Prison for protesters

TWO people have been jailed and two others received suspended custodial sentences after breaching an injunction and spending 47 days in tunnels they had dug at Swynnerton in Staffordshire.

The occupation, which ended in June, was in protest at plans to clear woodland to make way for the HS2 route. A judge at the High Court in Birmingham said that the breaches were serious, life-threatening, dangerous and deliberate, adding that the intention and outcome was to cause real harm to HS2 and the taxpayer.

Two others are subject to undertakings agreed by HS2, which prohibit them from interfering with the project, and another is due to be sentenced in September.