A WARRINGTON mum has been spared an immediate prison sentence following a protest against oil use.

Zoe Cohen was accused of breaching a High Court injunction by protesting outside Kingsbury Oil Terminal in Warwickshire.

The 52-year-old did so to demand an end to new oil and gas projects in the UK, and she was later remanded in custody.

Cohen, who appeared at Birmingham Crown Court on Tuesday, was among 50 other Just Stop Oil supporters remanded to prison after refusing to comply with court proceedings and promising to break the injunction again.

The 51 were accused of contempt of court for sitting outside the Kingsbury Oil Terminal on September 14, in breach of the North Warwickshire Borough Council injunction.

The private injunction seeks to outlaw any demonstrations, protests or peaceful civil resistance from taking place outside Kingsbury Oil Terminal in Warwickshire.

Warrington Guardian: Just Stop Oil protesters at Kingsbury Oil Terminal (Image: PA)Just Stop Oil protesters at Kingsbury Oil Terminal (Image: PA) (Image: PA)

Cohen was sentenced to 25 days in prison suspended for two years and ordered to pay costs totalling more than £400.

The conditions of the suspended sentence follow the terms set out in the injunction, not to be in the locality of the Kingsbury Oil Terminal.

Following the hearing, Cohen said: “I have voted in every election I could since I was 18, but there is never any box to tick to stop the funding of fossil fuels, to stop the endless focus on profit above all else, or to protect our families and what is left of nature.

“There is no real choice – we are all strapped into this flight to catastrophe, and the pilots – governments and the oil companies – are intent on going faster.

“King Charles as Prince back in November 2021 said that climate change and the loss of nature are such a huge threat to society that we have to put ourselves on ‘what might be called a war-like footing’. He was right.

“Yet Prime Minister Liz Truss and her followers are intending to fan the flames of climate breakdown ever higher by approving more than 100 new fossil fuel licences, as well as restarting fracking.

Warrington Guardian: Just Stop Oil protesters at Kingsbury Oil Terminal (Image: PA)Just Stop Oil protesters at Kingsbury Oil Terminal (Image: PA) (Image: PA)

“They are putting ideology, greed and power above all else. The Government’s addiction to oil and gas is causing the cost of greed crisis.

“More than 10,000 households in Warrington were in fuel poverty in 2019, and it is probably many more now, but it does not have to be this way.

“Renewables are so much cheaper, and insulation brings down bills forever.”

A spokesman for the Just Stop Oil coalition added: “Last week, 56 supporters of our campaign were being held in prisons around the country.

“This year we have experienced the hottest temperatures ever recorded in the UK, uncontrollable wildfires and water shortages, while our Government continues to approve new oil and gas projects in the UK.

“If the Government will not stop the genocidal death project that is new oil and gas, then ordinary people have no other choice but to stop it themselves, to protect the lives of their families, their communities and everything they hold dear.”