Extinction Rebellion's co-founder has been spared jail after plotting to close Heathrow by flying drones near the airport.
Roger Hallam and other eco-activists launched the protest, under the name Heathrow Pause, in a bid to close the transport hub and force the Government to abandon its plans for third runway, London's Isleworth Crown Court was told.
A number of arrests were made during the protest in September 2019, but instead of hundreds of people attending to fly drones, the 'movement died where it was', the court heard.
The policing cost to the public was in excess of £1 million, and 1,600 officer shifts had to be moved, the court was told.
Hallam, 57, of Wandsworth, south London, and co-defendant Larch Maxey, 51, of no fixed abode, along with Michael Lynch-White, 33, of Lewes, Sussex, conspired with others on or before September 14 2019 to close the transport hub to air traffic by the 'unlawful flying' of drones within Heathrow's flight restriction zone.
The intention was 'not to close it for a day, but some documents say a week, two weeks' and there are documents which show the intention was to close Heathrow 'indefinitely until the Government would agree publicly to reverse a national policy permitting the third runway extension at Heathrow'.
There was no intention to cause any crash or to harm or endanger lives of individuals, but with the 'intention of causing inevitable chaos to the public' and 'massive disruption to the public, to flights in and out of this country'.
Judge Martin Edmunds KC said the small number of drones flown 'did not cause any disruption to flights'.
Hallam and Maxey were each sentenced to two years in prison, suspended for 18 months. Lynch-White was handed 17 months, suspended for 18 months.
