Three fracking protesters jailed by judge with family links to oil and gas firm FREED

[Denzil_DC]

Three anti-fracking activists jailed for a protest at Cuadrilla's Preston New Road site in Lancashire have been freed by the Court of Appeal.

Soil scientist Simon Blevins, 26, from Sheffield, teacher Richard Roberts, 36 of London, and piano restorer Rich Loizou, 32, from Devon, had their jail terms quashed and replaced with conditional discharges.

The trio, known as the “Fracking Three”, are believed to be the first environmental activists to be imprisoned for public nuisance since 1932.

They had been jailed by Judge Robert Altham - who the Mirror revealed has family links to the oil and gas industry.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/breaking-three-fracking-protesters-jailed-13431618

The activists have been released after six weeks in prison. Sadly, Robert Altham is still at large.

Altham's Wikipedia page here (includes the snippet that his ancestor, Sir James Altham, served as a judge during the Pendle witch trials in the 17th century): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Altham

Here's The Guardian's coverage of Altham's undeclared conflict of interest:

Fracking protesters walk free after court quashes 'excessive' sentences

...

Questions over the original trial judge’s family links to the oil and gas industry were also raised in court on Wednesday. Judge Robert Altham’s father and sister run JC Altham and Sons, a company believed to be part of the supply chain for energy giant Centrica, which has invested tens of millions of pounds in fracking.

The judicial conduct investigations office later confirmed it had “received a complaint regarding HHJ Robert Altham, which will be considered in accordance with the judicial conduct (judicial and other office holders) rules 2014”.

...

It also emerged in the hearing that Altham had refused the defendants an opportunity to bring a defence of necessity in their original trial.

“The judge explicitly stated pre-trial he would not hear any evidence about fracking,” Brimelow said, explaining that such a restriction prevented her clients from bringing arguments relating to their rights to protest and free speech.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/oct/17/court-quashes-excessive-sentences-of-fracking-protesters

Altham's sister, Jane Watson, was one of the signatories of an open letter released by a body calling itself the "North West Energy Task Force" in 2016 titled "Lancashire business leaders to local council: 'Give shale a chance.'": https://web.archive.org/web/20160616073508/http://www.nwenergy.org.uk:80/lancashire_business_leaders_to_local_council_give_shale_a_chance

The North West Energy Task Force is funded by Centrica and Cuadrilla.

Even before this appeal verdict, Blackpool South Labour MP Gordon Marsden last week tabled three parliamentary written questions about Altham's conduct and whether it breached the judicial code.

[T_i_B]

1. The people behind fracking....

...do know how to get the most influential people onside. See the case of my former MP Natascha Engel, now the government's allegedly independent shale gas commissioner!

I have recently moved to another constituency, where the sitting Labour MP is also pro-fracking, which I fully expect to become problematic in future!

[T_i_B]

2. More fracking news

Cuadrilla forced to stop fracking as quake breaches threshold

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/oct/26/cuadrilla-forced-to-stop-fracking-as-quake-breaches-threshold

Cuadrilla has been forced to stop fracking after its operations at a well near Blackpool triggered an earthquake that breached the official threshold.

The company said it had paused work for 18 hours after the tremor on Friday morning. It was the 17th quake in the area since fracking began 11 days ago, but the first to be powerful enough to pass a regulatory threshold that requires fracking to stop.

The 0.8-magnitude quake centred 2km (1.2 miles) underground was too small for anyone to notice on the surface, but is ranked as a red event on the government’s traffic-light scheme of fracking regulation. A red event is anything above 0.5 magnitude and requires Cuadrilla to stop injecting water and monitor the well for further seismic activity.

Any delays will cost the company financially. It has admitted that delays due to a legal challenge earlier this month were costing it £94,000 a day as workers stood idle.

[T_i_B]

3. Has anyone else noticed...

...that following on from the Russian invasion of Ukraine, fracking has once again become a pet hobby horse of the right wing commentariat?

Of course they don't like it when it's pointed out that renewable energy is at least as good, if not better for weaning ourselves off Russian fossil fuels than domestic fracking and reopening coal mines.

[Emrys]

4. I did see that Farage had popped up again.

Nigel Farage’s anti net zero campaign rally at Bolton Wanderers stadium called off
https://www.independent.co.uk/climate-change/news/nigel-farage-bolton-wanderers-net-zero-b2031278.html

Brexit - antivax/anti-mask - anti-net zero. It's almost as if he and his ilk are flailing for relevance while always acting against the country's best interests. Not sure why that would be ... the rubles can't be making anyone rich at the moment.

[T_i_B]

5. It has been noted...

...that a lot of the exact same people who were anti-lockdown outliers when lockdowns first became a necessity have also been pro-Russia of late. Sadly I expect more of the right wing to move that way over time, especially if Russia is successful.