Retired vicar jailed after defying court
ARETIRED vicar and environmental protester was jailed after he branded a court ‘immoral’ and said he would ‘not willingly return’ for sentence.
Former reverend Bill White, 67, from Bollington, was one of 56 Just Stop Oil protesters who were sent to prison after refusing to comply with court proceedings.
They were arrested after breaking a previously issued injunction by blockading the Kingsbury oil terminal in Warwickshire over climate change fears.
Bill says he told Birmingham Crown Court if he was let go he would do the same thing again. He also shared his view that the court had lost its moral authority.
He was jailed for contempt of court for seven days and then a prerecorded video was released.
In it he said: “If you are watching this it is because I am in prison. You expect a member of the clergy to stand up for truth and justice.”
Mr White went on to say that the oil industry’s products are ‘killing people today and making lives unliveable.’
And added: “I will not stand by and do nothing in the face of such evil. I have tried reducing my own carbon footprint.
“It is clear that such personal actions will never be enough, we are all trapped in a life-destroying system created by the powerful to protect their own interests.
“We need that system to change if we are to have hope for the future. This leads me and many other ordinary people to make a stand, to risk our freedom and possessions on the interests of real justice.”
Mr White was brought back to the court and given a 26-day suspended jail sentence and ordered to pay £412 costs.
It was for breaking the injunction at the protest on September 14.
Following these events Bill said: “I will carry on protesting. The sense of helplessness felt now is already a personal prison.
“They threaten unlimited fines, taking away my grandchildren’s inheritance. But in the future we are heading towards that money will have no value for them.”
A spokesperson for the Just Stop Oil coalition said: “56 supporters of our campaign were being held in prisons around the country. This is unprecedented in the UK’s recent history.
“This year we have experienced the hottest temperatures ever recorded in the UK, uncontrollable wildfires and water shortages, whilst our government
continues to approve new oil and gas projects.
“If the government won’t stop the genocidal death project that is new oil and gas, then ordinary people have no other choice but to stop it themselves, to protect the lives of their families, their communities and everything they hold dear.”