Orchestra child is jailed for Just Stop Oil protests

One of the five climate protestors sentenced yesterday to four years in jail is Cressida Gethin, 22, from Hertfordshire.

A music student at Cambridge University, she is the daughter of the cellist Nick Gethin, who played in the London Symphony Orchestra from 1985 to 2006. Her mother, formerly involved with London orchestras, runs Cathy Nelson Artists and Projects, mostly for UK composers.

Both parents have told Radio Times that they are standing by their daughter.

A Labour government minister today welcomed the ‘strong penalties.’ Luke Pollard, the armed forces minister, told LBC: ‘I’m glad that there’s now been a strong message sent to them, and anyone thinking about that type of disruptive protest in the future, that there’ll be serious consequences if they go down that path.’

The Green Party’s Caroline Lucas says: ‘This sentence is obscene. Why are we punishing the people trying to prevent disaster while allowing the oil company giants causing it to reap super profits?’