CAN five years imprisonment for peaceful protests ever be proportionate? Convicted of a conspiracy to cause public nuisance under section 78 of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022, five Just Stop Oil protesters received sentences of between four and five years by an English court last week. A firestorm of controversy has followed.

In a letter to Keir Starmer’s new ­Attorney General, 1200 public figures including broadcasters, media types and ­academics have criticised the penalty as grossly ­excessive.

What the court regarded as the aggravating factors are all set out in the ­sentencing statement, which dismisses the protesters as climate fanatics whose actions inflicted serious and quantifiable harm on ordinary people.

Just as the new legislation formed part of the broader Tory push to constrain public protest, the punishment handed down is clearly intended pour encourager les ­autres. Campaigners and protesters in ­Scotland will be interested to know the 2022 Act doesn’t apply here, but you’ll have to ­tangle with common law breach of the peace ­instead.

The key evidence against the Whole Truth Five was a Zoom call where they plan to bring the M25 to a halt. The evidence led in the case set out how effectively the protest had done so, mobilising significant police resources, delaying all kinds of traffic, and causing some travellers to miss flights, funerals and NHS appointments.

Sun journalist infiltration

Prosecutors suggested that the economic cost of the four days of disruption was just under £770,000. The police found out about the planned protests after a Sun ­journalist infiltrated the meeting and passed on a ­recording to the authorities.

The story represents a rare opportunity to talk about an important question – what precisely is prison for? Should we be ­routinely incarcerating people convicted of non-violent crimes? There are compelling political reasons to consider this ­question carefully. Across the UK, the prison ­population is in crisis. Overcrowding is ­endemic.

After an unanticipated surge in demand for prison places – resulting in too many prisoners and too few cells to put them in – both Scottish and UK governments found themselves obliged to institute early release schemes this summer, authorising ­governors to release short-term........

© Herald Scotland