A Just Stop Oil supporter from Dorset and his five co-defendants who disrupted the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, were spared jail yesterday. 

They were demanding that the government halt licensing and consents for the development of any new fossil-fuel projects in the UK. 

The Just Stop Oil supporters were sentenced by Mr Justice Garnham at Northampton Crown Court, after being convicted of causing a public nuisance for sitting on the Formula 1 track at Silverstone in July 2022.

Louis McKechnie, 22, a mechanical engineering student from Weymouth who was previously remanded for 212 days without trial, was sentenced to 12 months in jail, suspended for two years and given a community service order. 

His five co-defendants were also given suspended jail sentences and community service orders. 

Speaking before sentencing, Louis said: "I recently spent seven months in prison, without trial, for taking non-violent action, to protect my generation and save lives. 

"Every year the government approves new fossil fuel projects and every year they impose new laws criminalising those who might speak up.

"Prison is not the end of the world; inaction on the climate emergency is. Top scientific reports state that the government's current targets will result in the death of billions. 

"My generation is being marched into a slaughterhouse and imprisoned if we speak up about it. We deserve better!"

During the trial, the Just Stop Oil supporters told jurors how they had studied the Formula 1 rulebook and footage of previous races, to ensure the action was as safe as possible. 

The defendants described how they had planned to elicit a 'red flag', knowing that this would halt race conditions, alerting drivers and marshals to their presence within seconds.

Since the Just Stop Oil campaign began on April 1 2022, there have been over 2,000 arrests and 138 people have spent time in prison. There are currently two Just Stop Oil supporters in prison awaiting trial or serving sentences for actions taken with the campaign.

A spokesperson for Just Stop Oil said: "We stand with these political prisoners, with the 1,800 victims of our broken criminal justice system imprisoned for over a year without trial and with the 1,700 murdered across the global south, for protecting all our lives. 

"This is the moment for us to come together and resist the destruction of everything we love, something that is being imposed on us by a few, who only seek to enrich themselves.

"In moments of emergency, we must be brave, we must stand for good over evil, life over death, right over wrong. We cannot stand by and watch while our rights and freedoms and everything we love is being destroyed. It's time to pick a side. Either you are actively supporting civil resistance fighting for life or you are complicit with genocide."