Local Environmental Activist on Trial Over Drone Stunt
Roget Hallam accused of trying to close Heathrow
Roger Hallam being detained by police during another protest
November 24, 2023
The 57-year-old co-founder of Extinction Rebellion is currently on trial at Isleworth Crown Court for attempting to close down Heathrow airport.
Roger Hallam of Putney Bridge Road was joined by two others in an alleged plot to fly drones close to the airport in September 2019 forcing flights to be diverted to get the government to abandon plans for a third runway.
In a scheme he dubbed ‘Heathrow Pause’ he told police officers who arrested him that the intention was to “close Heathrow for the foreseeable future”.
Mr Hallam and his co-defendants Larch Maxey, 51, of no fixed abode, and Valerie Milner-Brown, 71, of Islington have pleaded not guilty to a charge of conspiracy to cause a public nuisance. Another man, Michael Lynch-White has pleaded guilty to the same charge.
There is a five-kilometre restriction zone around Heathrow in which it is not permitted to fly drones. If they are detected, then air traffic control may be forced to divert flights as a safety measure.
According to the prosecution the intention was to invite a large number of eco-activists to participate in the stunt to maximise disruption and the resultant publicity. There is no suggestion of any terrorist motive on behalf of the accused.
However, it was put to the court that the risk to people on the planes and those on the ground around the airport was significant because many of the people who would have been flying the drones had little or no experience of doing so. The prosecution described the safety measures that the activists took to prevent a collision as ‘pie-in-the-sky.’
The group met police before the protest to discuss their plans to fly toy drones in the Heathrow exclusion zone. They claimed any negative impact would be outweighed by the lives they would save by raising awareness of the impact of climate change and the damage to the environment caused by the aviation industry.
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