Hello you beautiful people, 

I am Laura Hughes, one of the DEFRA 5 who in the first week of Extinction Rebellion actions last November was arrested for chalk spraying the DEFRA building. I am a mother of 3 small ones and a Human Rights activist

Summary - Today our case ended with the judgement of guilty and we have been charged compensation and court costs of £555 each, amounting to £2,775 in total for all 5 of us.

Call to action - We are raising £2,775 to pay all of these costs. We need your support: please contribute and share this page now!

What are we trying to achieve? - We are activists trying to bring Climate Breakdown and the IPCC report into the public arena. So far with much success. 

What is the next step in the case? - I will be appealing the judges decision on account of the Human Rights violations that DEFRA are committing by disregarding food security. 

How much we are raising and why? - We are raising the exact amount to cover the costs of the this ruling. 

 Thank you so much,

DEFRA 5 judgement reflections. I plan to appeal the decision as my lawyers said I could get legal aid to do so. I know our result could have been worse but it was sad to see the judge about to retire and go out with this kind of legacy where she still treated us as criminals. However acknowledging the fact we are all of good character and integrity. It's heartbreaking when the system is so broken that even the CPS thought fining us would be wrong but the still charged us personally £2000 compensation to clean chalk of a government building. It was also quite apparent the judge believed our action a failure, saying the XR symbol was unrecognised back then so wouldn't of had the effect we sought for. Ignoring this journey we have all taken in bringing the XR symbol into the public limelight. The porousness of the building was an important factor in this case seemingly chalk spraying windows would have has a much less harsh outcome. We all received 9months conditional discharge. <3  

Information of the action itself and the media publications. 

This particular court date is the ruling for the protesters who allegedly chalked sprayed the DEFRA building on the 14th November (video below) DEFRA is responsible for our agriculture and food security and has not reflected or acted on the IPCC report (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) supported by 97% of scientists globally.

Research suggests that we have a maximum of 30 harvests left with the quality of soil in the UK and using certain chemicals has killed soil within a decade. It is important that this is addressed as a global issue with global solutions, buying more crops from developing countries where climate change is already effecting may add to the starvation, famines, migration of already struggling people. PNR also played a part in this action due to the implications fracking chemicals leaking in to the surrounding agriculture will have on our food security whilst leaks have already been detected in the local stream which will makes it clear that the ancient ground waters in which we rely in already contaminated. DEFRA need to stop this greenwashing and cover ups in which the EA (Environmental Agency) are complicit.Please come along, bring your friends and show support for these brave activists. Thank you.

 PUBLICATIONS HERE:

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/nov/14/social-media-influencer-jack-harries-extinction-rebellion-urges-young-people-to-protest-over-environment 
 
https://mobile.twitter.com/damiengayle/status/1062686443003396097 

https://twitter.com/damiengayle/status/1062688544748195840 

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/extinction-rebellion-activists-in-court-for-criminal-damange

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/fifty-arrests-as-protesters-spray-paint-slogans-on-defra-hq-and-unfurl-huge-banner-on-westminster-a3990216.html