Extinction Rebellion co-founder Gail Bradbrook avoids jail after damaging government building
Extinction Rebellion co-founder Gail Bradbrook has avoided jail after she was convicted of criminal damage for smashing a window at a government department.
Dr Bradbrook, 51, was found guilty in October of causing thousands of pounds worth of damage to the Department for Transport building during a protest against the environmental impact of HS2 in 2019.
On Monday, she was sentenced to a year and three months in jail – but the punishment was suspended for 15 months – meaning the campaign group leader is unlikely to spend time behind bars.
She also has to complete 150 hours of unpaid community work.
Dr Bradbrook said she has “no regrets” for her actions at the 2019 protest, adding it was in “service to life”.
“In times of great peril, you have to step forward, and you have to do what you have to do to protect life,” she said.
A group of demonstrators gathered outside Isleworth Crown Court dressed as suffragettes and holding banners while the sentencing took place.
Among them was actor Jerome Flynn, who is best known for playing Bronn in HBO’s Game of Thrones.
“I came to support her [Dr Bradbrook] and give gratitude to her and to all the women here who are standing up for our futures, our children’s futures,” Flynn told Sky News.
“There was a crime at the heart of the case here today and it wasn’t Gail breaking a window. It was the abomination of HS2 and the crime upon our natural world.
“She has been given 150 hours of community service on a suspended sentence and the irony in that is that she was serving the community by doing what she did.”
Speaking before the sentencing, Dr Bradbrook said: “Whatever happens today, we must meet it with good grace and do what needs to be done, and carry on walking in a path of truth and power.
“Let’s go in and face the music.”
The climate campaign group was first formed in 2018 as a “declaration of rebellion against the UK government,” according to the Extinction Rebellion (XR) website.
The group says it focuses on “non-violent civil disobedience” in order to demonstrate against government policy areas like granting licences for oil and gas extraction.
In September, protesters poured fake oil over the steps of Labour’s headquarters, calling on the party to take “urgent action” to cancel fossil fuel licences.
While in Venice, Italy, XR demonstrators used a dye to turn the Grand Canal green over what they said was a lack of progress at the CO28 climate summit in Dubai.