Rosalind Burgin’s client walks free over environmental protest at Drax train line
25 March 2025
Rosalind Burgin represented Dr Diana Warner during her trial for protesting outside Drax Power Station (pictured), the UK’s largest power station. Credit: Drax.
Environmental activist Dr Diana Warner has today (25 March) walked free over from Leeds Crown Court with a conditional discharge and no jail time, after being found guilty of obstructing a train bound for the UK’s largest power station.
Dr Warner, a retired GP and former Green Party Parliamentary candidate, halted a train carrying wooden pellets to Drax Power Station in Selby, North Yorkshire, on 14 December, 2021, in protest of its controversial biofuel-burning practices.
Speaking on the steps outside court where she was surrounded by supporters, Dr Warner said: “A small amount of disruption in order to save lives was a choice I made. It was more effective than 30 years of campaigning I’d done before. It was a really good, peaceful, direct action. It didn’t affect anyone except myself”.
Garden Court North’s Rosalind Burgin represented Dr Warner in preparation for the case, at trial, and at sentence.
In mitigation, Rosalind said Dr Warner had been deeply “impacted” by a brief spell in prison in 2022 and that she was committed to continuing her campaign work in ways that would not bring her back before the Court.
In sentencing, Recorder of Leeds Guy Kearl KC stated: “You do not pose a direct risk of harm to others. I accept you are deeply committed to the cause that you support and that your motive is conscientious. You did not cause disruption to the passenger lines since the railway line led only to Drax power station. You did not cause direct damage either to the train or the premises of Network Rail. Your motive was to seek greater publicity for your cause […] You will not be penalised for running a trial, at least not in terms of the nature of the sentence to be imposed.”
After the trial, Dr Warner said she was “so relieved” to have avoided prison and described her sentencing, a conditional discharge for two years from today, as “fair”. Her offence charged carried a maximum sentence of two years’ imprisonment.
Controversy surfaced during the trial over the matter of acquittal on conscience.
About an hour after the jury was sent out, jurors presented a note to Judge Kearl KC asking what they should do as they were struggling to come to a verdict “as a matter of conscience”.
Judge Kearl KC told the jury to test the case “on the evidence, not your conscience”.
During the trial, protestors appeared outside Court holding signs that stated: “you have an absolute right to acquit a Defendant according to your conscience.”
Dr Warner said: “What happens when a jury is told they must ignore the fact the defendant is desperately trying to save lives and protect people’s health?
This is an attack on the very basis most of us live by – that human life and wellbeing are of utmost importance and the rights to life and health are respected in law.”
Rosalind Burgin is a member of Garden Court North Chambers’ protest rights team. She acted for Dr Diana Warner, instructed by Nicola Hall from Robert Lizar Solicitors.
Additional media
The Guardian – Drax climate protester says judge ‘bullied’ jury to find her guilty
BBC – Retired GP walks free over Drax train line protest
The Independent – Retired GP who obstructed railway during power station protest avoids jail
For further information, please contact Alex Blair, Communications Manager at Garden Court North Chambers: ablair@gcnchambers.co.uk
