A parish magazine in a rural Cambridgeshire village has split local opinion by publishing a lengthy sympathetic interview with a Just Stop Oil activist who was jailed for blocking the M25.
A row is blazing in the picturesque hamlet of Grantchester, best known as the home of Jeffrey Archer, after the Grantchester Parish Magazine published a glowing portrait of Louise Lancaster – an eco-warrior currently serving a four-year prison term.
Lancaster’s friends wrote the sympathetic piece describing her cushy life behind bars and bemoaning her initial stint at high-security jail HMP Bronzefield, where notorious baby serial killer Lucy Letby is imprisoned.
Magazine editor Jo Burkitt, wife of top Rothschild executive Francis Burkitt, published the piece after it was submitted by Lancaster’s middle-class friend Debbie Meller, with one local saying: ‘It made my p*** boil’.
There are even calls to boycott the £5-per-year magazine in response.
Lancaster, 58, was jailed along with four others in July for organising protests which saw activists blocking the M25 during rush hour from 2022, leaving the M25 compromised for more than 120 hours.
A total of 45 people climbed gantries over the motorway and the Met Police spent more than £1 million responding to the incidents.
The protesters were calling for an end to new oil and gas power amidst the climate crisis.
Just Stop Oil activist Louise Lancaster, 58, is currently serving a four-year prison term for blocking the M25
Magazine editor Jo Burkitt, wife of top Rothschild executive Francis Burkitt (both pictured), published the piece
The Grantchester Parish Magazine published a glowing portrait of Lancaster in which it describes her cushy life behind bars and bemoans her initial stint at high-security jail HMP Bronzefield
Describing Lancaster as a ‘friend and neighbour’, the article detailed how she is regarded as a ‘trusted member of the village’ and ‘one of us’.
It detailed her initial stay in HMP Bronzefield alongside the likes of Lucy Letby before local MP Pippa Heylings reportedly intervened, resulting in her being transferred to HMP Send.
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Author Meller spoke about her transfer to better conditions, writing: ‘Unlike Bronzefield she now has a room to herself so isn’t forced to watch TV from morning until night.
‘Her room also has its own toilet and shower which occasionally has hot water.
‘At Bronzefield all the inmates had to use their one hour outside their cell to wash, buy provisions, stay in contact with family and take exercise, so she found it rather frustrating.’
The magazine told how Lancaster had lost some weight since being behind bars due to her vegan diet and complained she is finding it hard to ‘access dietary variety’.
The JSO activist is now taking part in HMP Send’s prison Park Run, growing vegetables in the prison’s garden for £1.50 per shift and taking meals with her fellow environmentalists behind bars.
The pen-portrait paints a picture of Lancaster attending choir, watching birds from her cell window and having a treat of a ‘lime spritzer’ every Friday night – sparkling water and lime.
The article was penned by Lancaster’s middle-class friend Debbie Meller (pictured), with one local saying: ‘It made my p*** boil’
Lancaster, a former teacher and mother of three from Cambridge, pictured with her husband Tim being dragged off the road after they tried to hold back a car during an Insulate Britain protest near Southwark Bridge in 2022
Police watch as traffic is held back as an activist from Just Stop Oil occupies a gantry over the M25 near Godstone in Surrey in 2022
(Pictured from left to right): Lucia Whittaker De Abreu, Cressida Gethin, Lancaster, Daniel Shaw and Roger Hallam who were all jailed for their roles in the M25 protest
Describing Lancaster as a ‘friend and neighbour’, the article detailed how she is regarded as a ‘trusted member of the village’ and ‘one of us’
‘Despite being locked in her cell from 6.00pm (5.00pm at weekends) she is finding pleasure in the small things’, Meller writes.
Lancaster’s hobbies reportedly include reading and swapping books with fellow inmates, practicing yoga and tending the gardens.
Compared to Bronzefield’s 23-hour cell incarceration, it is practically a luxury.
Lancaster also has a constant stream of access to the outside world – via phone, email and letters.
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The magazine even gave contact details for members of the public to write to Lancaster, describing how she would use toothpaste to stick postcards and photographs on the walls of her cell.
And middle-class Meller described how hearing of her ‘inspiring’ friend’s desperate plight has led her to ‘think about this fraction of society which is hardly known to us and the experience of life behind prison walls.’
One local villager said the article had caused chaos in a local Facebook group after people criticised the magazine for publishing it, when so many motorists had vital visits to hospitals disrupted.
One of the four friends who held the interview with Lancaster reportedly responded: ‘Everyone’s entitled to their opinion but this is about peaceful protesters being jailed.’
The post was later removed by the author after heated debate in the comments.
The villager said: ‘This has caused a divide in the village. Grantchester is tiny, and it’s made up of some really big houses and the rest of us.
‘It feels like most of Lancaster’s support live in these big houses, and it’s the rest of us that had to put up with the disruption at the time.
Traffic builds up as a Just Stop Oil activist occupies a gantry over the M25 near Godstone in Surrey on November 7, 2022
Lancaster stands alongside another activist during an Insulate Britain protest outside the Home Office in Westminster in 2021
People canoeing and picnicing and fishing by River Cam at Grantchester Meadows in Cambridge
A source involved in publication told MailOnline that the article was about ‘how Louise’s life has changed’ and that it was of interest to local people who had little experience of what life behind bars is like.
‘The article was nothing to do with It was absolutely not condoning any of the actions that she took. She did something wrong, she deserved to be punished. Perhaps the sentence was too long, but it’s a matter of opinion.
‘The article was nothing to do with Just It was absolutely not condoning any of the actions that she took. She did something wrong, she deserved to be punished. Perhaps the sentence was too long, but it’s a matter of opinion.
‘This was a local article for of general interest for local people, and it’s been blown all out of proportion’.