Three anti-fracking activists who last month became the first people in the UK to be jailed for protesting against the practice have been freed by the Court of Appeal today.

Simon Blevins, Richard Roberts and Rich Loizou have had their jail terms quashed and replaced with conditional discharges.

The three defendants had climbed on lorries outside the fracking site in Lancashire in July 2017, in a demonstration which lasted nearly 100 hours.

Blevins and Roberts were jailed for 16 months, and Loizou for 15 months in a ruling handed down last month by Judge Robert Altham. The appeals followed reports that the Altham family business is a supplier to the oil and gas industry. 

Handing down today’s judgment, Lord Chief Justice Lord Burnett said: ‘We have concluded that an immediate custodial sentence in the case of these appellants was manifestly excessive.’ Burnett said a community order with a significant requirement of unpaid work would have been an appropriate sentence.

The court will give full reasons for its ruling at a later date.