ECO-campaigners who brought large parts of Thurrock to a standstill by digging tunnels under borough roads and burrowing underground for 13 days have been found guilty.

Just Stop Oil tunnellers Samuel Johnson, Larch Maxey, Joe Howlett, and Autumn Wharrie, who dug 52 feet of tunnels under St Clement's Way in West Thurrock appeared today (Thursday, 21 March) at Basildon Crown Court,.

The four are due to be sentenced in June.

They took action in August 2022, as part of the lengthy campaign calling on the UK government to halt all licensing and consents for new fossil fuel exploration and extraction.

The group took action by occupying tunnels dug under the road leading to the Navigator Oil Terminal.

Three of the tunnellers underground.

This occurred simultaneously with other tunneling actions in Essex and Warwickshire, as well as occupations of oil trucks and terminals overground.

These combined efforts massively impacted the flow and operation of oil in the UK at the time.

A fifth person, Xavier Trimmer-Gonzalez, took action with this group, but died in 2023 after spending time in prison following his actions.

A two minute silence was observed during the trial to show respect to his memory.

Sam Johnson, 42, said today: "I'm Sam, a construction worker from Essex and I took action simply because we have run out of time. We have known for longer than I've been alive what would happen if we kept burning fossil fuels – and now we are seeing this catastrophe unfold in real time. I have a nephew who is seven years old who I love to bits. As long as I have breath in my lungs I will fight to protect his future."

At the time of the protest , action taker Joe Howlett, 33, said: "The climate crisis is caused by a very small minority of people and it's those same people who are currently profiteering from the cost of living crisis. That's why I've spent the last 10 days living in a tunnel under a road leading to the Navigator oil terminal in Essex."