A climate change protester has been jailed for five weeks after blocking traffic on the M4.
Stephen Pritchard, 63, was sentenced at Inner London Crown Court for his part in an Insulate Britain demonstration in 2021.
He was convicted by a jury of causing a nuisance to the public when he, along with three others, stopped traffic at Junction 3 of the M4 on 1 October, 2021.
Insulate Britain said Pritchard is one of the first protestors to be convicted of causing a public nuisance – a common law offence which carries and maximum penalty of lifetime imprisonment.
Pritchard, a former parish councillor from Bath, previously used his speech in court ahead of his sentencing to condemn the order made by Judge Silas Reid as “amoral” and “irrational”.
