Protest leader: I drive a diesel

GAIL BRADBROOK has admitted that she still drives a highly polluting diesel car.

The molecular biophysicist, left, who helped to orchestrate almost a week of disruption, revealed she would not ‘paint herself as a saint on the green front’.

She also defended XR against claims that it is elitist, arguing: ‘In loads of successful civil disobedience movements, you’ll find some of the people who were leading them were a bit posh.’

A self-proclaimed ‘neo-pagan’, the 47-year-old says she experienced a ‘download from the Universe’ in Costa Rica in 2016 – after taking the psychedelic drugs ibogaine and ayahuasca – which opened her eyes to the environmental crisis.

She has left the care of her sons, aged ten and 13, to her second husband, but plans to return home to Stroud this week for her youngest’s 11th birthday.