Protest outside prison ‘sending love’ to jailed fracking protesters

Supporters of three jailed fracking protesters will hold a demonstration outside the prison where they are being held.

Simon Blevins, 26, from Sheffield, Richard Roberts, 36, from London, and Rich Loizou, 31, from Devon, were jailed at Preston Crown Court last week after being convicted of public nuisance following a protest outside energy firm Cuadrilla’s site in Lancashire in July 2017.

On Saturday, supporters of the activists plan to march from Preston train station to HMP Preston in an effort to “send them some love”.

A message on a Facebook page for the demonstration said: “These guys took action because they get the big picture, they wanted to support folks in Lancashire, and they know that fossil fuel exploitation at home is going to affect millions of vulnerable people worldwide.

“Now they’ve been torn away from their families and locked up. So lets pay them a visit together!”

Blevins and Roberts were sentenced to 16 months in prison, while Loizou was jailed for 15 months.

Solicitors for the men confirmed on Friday they would be lodging an appeal against the sentences.

At their sentencing on September 26, Judge Robert Latham said he could not suspend the jail terms despite accepting the impact of incarceration and the good they did in the community.

He said: “Given the disruption caused in this case, only immediate custody can achieve sufficient punishment.”

A fourth defendant, Julian Brock, 47, from Torquay, was sentenced to 12 months in custody, suspended for 18 months, after he pleaded guilty to public nuisance.