Moment Just Stop Oil eco zealot sings protest song to police as he and fellow activist are hauled off Dartford Crossing bridge and arrested – as pair are found guilty of causing public nuisance after sparking two days of traffic chaos
- Marcus Decker, 34, and Morgan Trowland, 40, have both been convicted
- Their stunt on the Dartford Crossing caused traffic chaos for two days last year
Police bodycam footage showed the moment a Just Stop Oil Just Stop Oil demonstrator sung a protest song to officers as he was hauled off the Dartford Crossing after causing two days of traffic gridlock.
Eco-zealot Marcus Decker, 34 who was joined in the demonstration by Morgan Trowland, 40, was pulled into a cherry picker more than 200ft above ground … and arrested following the stunt which sparked travel mayhem over two days
The pair used ropes and other climbing equipment to shuffle up the cables and erect their protest site above the road where they unfurled a ‘giant Just Stop Oil banner’ and rigged up hammocks.
Today they were each convicted of causing a public nuisance at Basildon Crown Court for the stunt which lasted from 4am on October 17 last year to mid afternoon the following day.
When they finally agreed to come down, protester Marcus Decker was filmed singing a song of defiance as he was slowly lowered into the waiting arms of the police who had deployed a very large cherry picker.
Police bodycam footage shows a visibly exhausted Decker bellowing: ‘On this good green earth we will take a stand with an open heart and a healing hand’ – moments before he was pulled into the cherry picker.
Protester Marcus Decker was filmed singing an environmental song as he was dragged into a cherry picker
Police bodycam footage showed the two men arriving at the bridge in the dead of night and beginning their ascent
Once they had secured themselves the two men clambered steadily up the bridge using the cables
Marcus Decker (left) and Morgan Trowland (right) have been found guilty of conspiracy to commit a public nuisance
During the protest the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge, which links the M25 in Essex and Kent, was closed for almost two days, prosecutor Alan King told the court.
‘This closure caused gridlock for miles around throughout that period, which we say was the point,’ said Mr King.
‘It was because of the disruption that the incident made national news.’
He continued: ‘Small businesses lost, in some cases, hundreds of thousands of pounds, people missed loved ones’ funerals, children were left on the side of the road waiting for buses.’
He said the men came down at about 5.30pm on October 18 ‘with the help of police and a very tall cherry picker crane’, but the bridge was not reopened to traffic until later.
Mr King had told jurors: ‘We’re not here to litigate the Government’s climate change policy.’
Essex Police footage showed the two men using ropes to erect two hammocks between the cables
They then unfurled a large ‘Just Stop Oil’ Banner which they hung for the duration of their protest
Morgan Trowland posted numerous updates from the protest on social media throughout
Police body cam footage from the morning the protest began showed officers approaching both Trowland and Decker and asking them to confirm they weren’t trying to harm themselves.
Both men then continued their climb.
Trowland had said in evidence: ‘We climbed it (the bridge) to deliver a warning message, to put up a banner saying Just Stop Oil and to speak that message through interviews with journalists.’
He said the activist group’s goal is to get the Government to stop licensing oil and gas production.
‘That is putting fuel on the fire of climate change.’
Trowland, of Islington, north London, and Decker, 34, of no fixed address, denied causing a public nuisance.
They were found guilty by a jury by unanimous verdicts following more than two hours of deliberations.
Judge Shane Collery KC remanded them in custody to be sentenced on April 13.
He said: ‘This court is considering custodial sentences.’
He added: ‘We’re dealing with significant nuisance that’s been caused.’
Energy Security Secretary Grant Shapps said on Twitter: ‘I welcome the court’s decision today.
‘The right to protest cannot be allowed to outweigh the right of the law-abiding majority to go about their day free from selfish and antisocial disruption.
‘We are cracking down on these guerilla tactics which cause misery for the majority.’
READ MORE: Eco-protester begs for cash saying police damaged his house after he climbed QEII bridge and caused traffic chaos
Sean Irish, of Just Stop Oil, said outside court that the verdicts were ‘quite disappointing’.
‘Obviously it’s quite disappointing to see this happen,’ he said.
‘We’ve seen in the Old Bailey that a jury has the right to acquit based on a conscience, whether they were aware of that I don’t know, but it’s disappointing to see that they’ve come back with a guilty verdict.’
He said that the climate crisis was ‘more terrifying’ than the prospect of prison time.
‘Young people aren’t going to die for an oil baron’s profits,’ Mr Irish said.
‘We’re not going to lie down easily, we’re not going to take it, we will fight back.
‘The more the government cracks down on peaceful protest, the more dangerous it becomes for the government.’
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