This is the last article you can read this month
You can read more article this month
You can read more articles this month
Sorry your limit is up for this month
Reset on:
Please help support the Morning Star by subscribing here
A LAWYER and climate campaigner who leaked a Supreme Court ruling on the Heathrow airport expansion lost an appeal today against a contempt of court finding.
Tim Crosland, director of environmental campaign group Plan B Earth, was found in contempt of court for prematurely revealing the decision to allow a third runway at the London airport, 22 hours before it was officially made public last December.
The lawyer, from Elephant and Castle in south London, previously described breaking an embargo on the judgement as “an act of civil disobedience.”
In May, three Supreme Court justices found Mr Crosland in contempt of court for his “deliberate and calculated breaches,” fining him £5,000 and ordering him to pay costs of £15,000.
Mr Crosland challenged the ruling at a hearing in October, arguing that the judges failed to consider his “intentions, motivations and belief” when breaching the embargo.
His appeal, heard by the only five Supreme Court justices who were not involved in either the original contempt hearing or the Heathrow ruling, was unanimously rejected, as the judges concluded that Mr Crosland could have expressed his views after the judgement was made public.
