A JUST Stop Oil protester from Herefordshire has been handed a conditional discharge after disrupting work at sites in Essex.

Louisa Hadden appeared before magistrates in Chelmsford in March for sentencing after she was found guilty of two counts of obstructing or disrupting a person engaged in a lawful activity at an earlier hearing.

The court heard that the 20-year-old had trespassed on land at the Navigator fuel terminal in Purfleet, Essex, on April 6 last year, where lawful oil refinery work was taking place.

Hereford Times:

She had entered the secure site, climbed onto a gangway, got in a sleeping bag, and laid down, refusing to move, the court heard, with the intention of disrupting or obstructing activity on the site.

She had also trespassed on land at Exolum Storage Ltd in Askews Farm Lane, Purfleet, on April 10 last year, entering the site unlawfully and remaining there for over 12 hours with the intention of obstructing or disrupting lawful activity.

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A further charge of wilfully obstructing the free passage along a carriageway dating from April 15 was dismissed due to a lack of evidence.

Hadden, of Madley, Herefordshire, was handed a six-month conditional discharge and ordered to pay prosecution costs of £200 and a £22 victim surcharge.

Hereford Times:

Hadden was one of a number of Just Stop Oil protesters to take part in the protests.

Just Stop Oil is a civil resistance group demanding the UK Government stop licensing all new oil, gas and coal projects.

The campaign group made strong statements against the justice system after Hadden and others appeared in court earlier this month, accusing the judiciary of failing the British people.

“Judges would rather criminalise students, mothers and grandmothers, than take a stand for what is morally right," a Just Stop Oil spokesperson said.

The group has said that the "law is wrong" when people are deemed to be breaking the law for "resisting the destruction of everything they love".