Just Stop Oil co-founder plotted airport gridlock ‘at summer holiday peak'
The co-founder of Just Stop Oil deliberately plotted to cause airport gridlock at the height of the summer holiday season, a detective has said.
Indigo Rumbelow, 31, joined Daniel Knorr, 23, Leanorah Ward, 22, and Margaret Reid, 54, in trying to cause chaos at Manchester Airport on Aug 5 last year.
They were equipped with heavy duty bolt cutters, angle grinders, glue, sand, Just Stop Oil hi-vis vests and a leaflet giving instructions to follow when interacting with police, a court heard.
The four were planning to enter the airfield and stick themselves to the taxiway using the glue and sand, but were all arrested near to the airport, Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court was told.
They were all convicted of conspiracy to intentionally cause a public nuisance following a trial in February and have now been jailed.
Ward was also found in possession of a handwritten note which detailed the motive of the group to enter the airfield and to then contact the police to alert them of their activity.
Rumbelow, from London, was jailed for 30 months and Knorr, from Birmingham, got two years while Ward, also from Birmingham, and Reid, from Kendal, Cumbria, each were jailed for 18 months.
Each was ordered to pay £2,000 in costs.
Passing sentence, Judge Jason MacAdam rejected the defendants' claims that only 'minimal delay, inconvenience, cost would have occurred' had their plan succeeded.
He said: 'This was a highly organised, planned and determined conspiracy.
'If it had been successfully executed, [it] would have for some time resulted in chaos not just at Manchester Airport but to infrastructure around the airport and would have had a consequential effect on other airports.
'Many flights would have been delayed, rerouted or cancelled.'
Det Chf Insp Tony Platten, who led the investigation, said: 'We know this disruption was deliberately planned to coincide with the height of the summer holidays, targeting the public and their families.
'It was vital that we prevented this from happening. The group's actions demonstrated a complete disregard for the impact on the lives of those travelling via Greater Manchester, and I welcome the sentences handed down today.'
Rad Taylor, Manchester Airport operations director, said: 'What these individuals were planning would not only have caused significant disruption for tens of thousands of passengers, but also a significant safety risk. The potential consequences of that do not bear thinking about.'
In statements released by Just Stop Oil after the sentencing, the defendants said the action was part of a campaign for a treaty to end the extraction and burning of oil, gas and coal by 2030.
Knorr said: 'Things have continued to get worse. The world still sleepwalks towards hell.
'People are terrified of what rising temperatures and food shortages will mean for them and for their kids. So as long as the climate crisis keeps getting worse, people will keep taking action, prison or not.'
Ward said: 'I acted because doing nothing is unthinkable and because the science is clear. We have no other option.'
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