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Critical moment for democracy

Five women [1] are stepping forward to appeal against their convictions, after a judge threatened the jury with criminal proceedings if they applied their conscience to the case. The same judge, Judge Silas Reid, lampooned by Private Eye as ‘Judge Dread’, had previously jailed people including Amy Pritchard, for using the words ‘climate crisis’ and ‘fuel poverty’, after banning the use of those words in his courtroom. [2]

The judge’s threat defied the ancient principle of ‘jury equity’, i.e. the principle that jurors can acquit a defendant as a matter of conscience, irrespective of the directions of the judge, which has been a cornerstone of the British justice system since Bushel’s case of 1670. This essential part of our democracy is set in marble inside the Old Bailey. With this principle on the line, campaigners are describing the appeal as a critical moment for democracy. [3]

In case of emergency, break glass

The facts of the case date back to 1st September 2021, when the women broke glass windows of the JPMorgan Bank’s European Head Office at Victoria Embankment to draw attention to the bank’s complicity in the violence of climate collapse by continuing fossil fuel investments. After a three week jury trial, the women were convicted of Criminal Damage at Inner London Crown Court in March 2024. Judge Reid passed suspended sentences on four of them, but jailed Amy Pritchard was sentenced to 10 months, mostly spent in HMP Downview. [4][5][6][7]

The main ground for the appeal is that during the trial, Judge Reid, wrongly directed the jury that it would be a criminal offence for them to return a not guilty verdict according to conscience. The judge, infamous for his climate denial and stripping away legal defences in activist cases, has been condemned by the UN Special Rapporteur on Environmental Defenders. [8]

In April 2024, Trudi Warner was cleared of Contempt of Court for holding up a sign. She had reminded the jury of the principle of jury equity outside Inner London Crown Court after Judge Reid had ordered that she be arrested and referred to the Old Bailey. The right of juries to use their conscience is enshrined in stone outside the Old Bailey, and was recently confirmed at the High Court to be an “established feature of our constitutional landscape… ’ ‘which has been affirmed… in the highest courts”. [9][10]

Whilst it is a criminal offence to disclose their deliberations, there have been numerous cases involving activists in which it can be inferred that juries have acquitted defendants on the basis of conscience. Clive Ponting, ,was acquitted by a jury after leaking official documents, and the 4 women from UK Ploughshares were acquitted of criminal damage in relation to causing £1.5 million worth of damage to a war plane they understood would be used to kill civilians in East Timor. [11][12][13]

Amy Pritchard, an appellant who will be representing herself at the Court of Appeal, said:

“When governments and corporations justify, fund, profit from and participate in genocides, and ignore the law, clearly the conscience of ordinary people needs to be heard.  

The legal system is abused by those hoarding power and money. International and domestic law, and human rights, are being ignored and juries are an essential safety valve. 

Judge Reid lied about the law.’’

Pamela Bellinger, also one of the appellants, said;

“I have been charged, taken to court and convicted for acting in line with my conscience. I believe that people who take nonviolent action to draw the public’s attention to the danger we are in and to corporate responsibility serves a necessary and important role in a democratic society.

By acting in the way he did, Judge Reid is eroding democracy by attempting to undermine the fundamental democratic principle of jury independence through the threats he made to the jury of criminal charges if they applied their conscience to our verdicts. 

I hope the Court of Appeal will right this wrong. We must restore some justice to our justice system, for the sake of all of us.”

In a show of support for this appeal, people will take action outside the Royal Courts of Justice on 4th December to ‘literally uphold the law’ once again, holding signs that communicate the principle of jury equity. 

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Notes to Editors

Release Image (high resolution) can be downloaded here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1X-G1FD9DCloQGapd7O_69NovPNeRIp0V/view?usp=drivesdk 
[1] Appellants:
Stephanie Aylett, a former medical device representative from St Albans
Pamela Bellinger, 68, a vegetable grower from Leicester
Amy Pritchard, 40, a student from Liverpool
Adelheid Russenberger, 34 a PhD student from Richmond, London
Rosemary (Annie) Webster, 67, a retired cook from Bristol

[2] https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/mar/06/four-insulate-britain-members-convicted-after-london-street-blockade

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jury_nullification

[4] https://extinctionrebellion.uk/2021/09/01/in-case-of-climate-emergency-break-glass-extinction-rebellion-women-break-windows-at-worlds-worst-bank-jp-morgan/

[5] https://extinctionrebellion.uk/2024/02/12/three-trials-of-people-who-took-action-to-defend-lives-to-begin-next-week/

[6] https://extinctionrebellion.uk/2024/03/02/women-who-broke-glass-in-case-of-climate-emergency-at-jpmorgan-found-guilty-after-judge-threatens-jurors-with-criminal-charges/

[7] https://defendourjuries.net/press-releases/judge-threatens-jury-with-criminal-charges-if-they-apply-conscience-to-climate-trial/

[8] https://unece.org/sites/default/files/2024-02/UNSR_EnvDefenders_Aarhus_Position_Paper_Civil_Disobedience_EN.pdf

[9] https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/HM-Solicitor-General-v-Warner-Judgment-22.4.24-KB.pdf

[10]https://www.thecanary.co/uk/analysis/2024/03/22/judge-reid-protest/

[11] https://www.newlawjournal.co.uk/content/blowing-right-whistle

[12] https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/disarming-war-hawk-ploughshares-story/

[13] https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/11/27/juries-conscience-legal-system-keep-elites-in-check/)