Just Stop Oil protester Marcus Decker loses appeal

The Tottenham resident faces deportation after he has served his sentence, reports Miriam Balanescu

Tottenham resident and Just Stop Oil protester Marcus Decker has been refused permission to appeal against his sentence in court, leaving him facing deportation once his sentence has been served.

Marcus and fellow protester Morgan Trowland had their appeal blocked against what their lawyers argued was the “extraordinary length” of their sentences in a ruling handed down yesterday (31st July). The pair were sentenced to two years seven months for causing a public nuisance after they scaled the Queen Elizabeth II bridge last October, which was subsequently closed off from traffic by police for over 24 hours.

Marcus, a German citizen, has been served a deportation order, which is automatically given to all non-British citizens with a prison sentence of over twelve months.

According to The Guardian, the pair’s lawyer, Daniel Friedman KC, said at a hearing last Wednesday (26th July) that their sentences were “the longest ever handed down in a case of non-violent protest in this country in modern times”.

Lady Justice Carr, who led a panel of three appeal court judges, argued: “This protest was of a wholly different nature and scale to the many non-violent protests of conscientious activists up and down the country exercising their rights to freedom of expression and assembly on a daily basis.

Speaking on the length of the sentences, she added “we have concluded that they were not manifestly excessive; nor did they amount to a disproportionate interference with their rights of freedom of expression and assembly.

“This was very serious offending by repeat protest offenders who were trespassers (and on bail) at the time; whilst the protest was non-violent as such, it had extreme consequences for many, many members of the public.”

As the sentence was passed, judge Shane Collery KC said: “You have to be punished both for the chaos you caused and to deter others from seeking to copy you in the next protest.”

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