Christian Climate Action’s beloved 84-year-old Rev Sue Parfitt has been acquitted of an offence of interfering with key national infrastructure after she marched slowly around a roundabout to highlight the need to stop burning fossil fuels.

Sue and her fellow protesters then headed north over Waterloo Bridge in London in 2023. The offence, for which Sue and six other defendants could have faced 12 months imprisonment, an unlimited fine, or both, was introduced in 2023 to target climate protesters. Their trial took place during the week in which trains were delayed, schools closed and hospitals were in crisis as parts of the UK were under a red warning for heat.

Judges frequently forbid any mention of the climate crisis in these trials, however in this case the defendants were allowed 20 minutes each by the trial judge to talk about their motivations for taking action. On Friday 3^rd July the jury delivered a majority not guilty verdict.

Sue was taking action with Just Stop Oil. In 2024 Just Stop Oil successfully won its original demand of ‘no new oil and gas’.

Her acquittal by a jury of everyday people is an important marker for us all. We are deeply grateful to Sue, and to her co-defendants, and to all those who risk their liberty to try to get meaningful action on the climate crisis.

Some words from Rev Sue Parfitt following her acquittal:

‘The climate crisis is a crisis of justice; justice for the poor in the UK and in the global south and justice for the younger generations who have a very limited future if we fail to turn this around. I am honoured beyond measure that God has called me into this work in my old age. Not everyone can engage in public protest in the way that we did on Waterloo Bridge but those of us who can are, I believe, being called to a deeper, more radical and more sacrificial way of life at this moment in history. God is calling the followers of Jesus and of other faith traditions to step up to the plate.

‘We took a small action indeed in walking slowly over Waterloo Bridge. But in finding us not guilty, the jury has delivered a powerful defence of our planet and the struggle of humanity and other creatures to cope with the climate crisis. Thank you members of the jury for seeing that it is not us who are the criminals, but the fossil fuel companies and Governments who are bringing our civilisation and nature as we know it to an end.’