Just Stop Oil protester, 78, with 'too thin' wrists must serve extra time behind bars for M25 blockade after officials failed to find a tracking tag that fitted her

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An elderly Just Stop Oil protester has been ordered to serve extra time behind bars after officials failed to find a tracking tag that fitted her 'too thin' wrists. 

Gaie Delap, 78, was jailed for 20 months in August for taking part in a blockade on the M25 in November 2022 that caused chaos on Britain's busiest motorway. 

The grandmother, from Bristol, was released from prison in November under the home detention curfew scheme, but was recalled back to jail just before Christmas as her wrists were too small for an electronic tag.  

The Electronic Monitoring Service (EMS) was unable to fit a tag to Ms Delap's ankle because she has deep vein thrombosis.

When they were unable to fit one to her tiny wrists, she was recalled to prison on November 29 despite, according to Just Stop Oil, her being 'fully compliant with the terms of release'.

After being notified of her recall to prison, Mrs Delap packed a suitcase and sat at her home waiting to be arrested which took place on December 20, according to Ministry of Justice sources.

During this period she was deemed by law to be 'unlawfully at large'.  

The retired teacher was delivered a letter to her cell on Friday where she learned she would now spend an extra 20 days behind bars, reported The Guardian. 

Retired teacher Gaie Delap, of Bristol, outside the Royal Courts of Justice in central London in October 2023

Friends and family of climate activist Gaie Delap, 78. Pictured (left-to-right): Gaie's brother Mick, and friends Mike Campbell and Annie Menter

Mrs Delap had been told her release date would be March 17, but she was left in shock, according to her supporters, that it had now been pushed back to April 7.

Now, twenty-five legal, women's and prison reform organisations have rallied around the pensioner to heap pressure on Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood and call on her to use her discretionary powers to revoke the recall.

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In a letter, as reported by The Guardian, the group say her 'recall serves no purpose other than to exacerbate the punitive aspects of her sentence'.

'In the interests of justice, humanity and effective public policy, we request you intervene immediately,' it reads. 

'Let this case serve as a catalyst for reforming the tagging system and ensuring that such situations do not recur.'

Mrs Delap's brother, Mick, has been left baffled as to why officials found it 'impossible' to find a tag that would fit 'this normal-sized woman'. 

'And how come there has been a deafening silence from the Ministry of Justice since Gaie's return to prison, despite numerous appeals from her family, friends and her MP?' he said. 

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme on Christmas Eve: 'The Government is paying millions of pounds to Serco, who run the electronic monitoring service. They are supposed to be buying up tags which will fit a range of people. Gaie is not exceptional in any way. She is perfectly normal.

'We are desperately asking them to come up with a strap that fits or an alternative electronic fingerprint system, which exists and which the Home Office uses. It is perfectly within their power. Why can't they do it?'

The retired teacher was delivered a letter to her cell on Friday where she learned she would now spend an extra 20 days behind bars, reported The Guardian 

Just Stop Oil activists (Ms Delap on far left of shot) outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London, where they were accused of breaking a National Highways injunction during their M25 protest in November 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 as part of the November 2022 protests

The M25 blockade in November 2022, which saw campaigners climb gantries over the motorway, caused 50,000 hours of delays and forced a man to miss his father's funeral

Mrs Delap's solicitor Raj Chada, of Hodge, Jones and Allen, slammed the 'disgraceful' decision to further punish her because of the 'incompetencises of the state'. 

A Ministry of Justice (MoJ) spokesperson told The Guardian: 'We are bound by law to enforce sentences passed down by the independent judiciary, this includes handing down additional days in custody when the law dictates.' 

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Just Stop Oil woman's family moan they'll 'miss her childcare' after she is jailed

Mrs Delap was jailed for her part in disruptive protests on the M25 in November 2022.

The demonstration brought traffic during the morning rush hour to a standstill at more than half a dozen separate locations along the motorway, with protesters scaling the gantries to fly a Just Stop Oil flag.

During the trial the pensioner, who has multiple health conditions, suffered a stroke.

In words reported by the Daily Telegraph, Just Stop Oil claimed that Ms Delap 'experienced significant mistreatment in prison, suffering wrist problems after being handcuffed to a bed in hospital'.

The M25 protest triggered mass anger among motorists - with long tailbacks at several stretches of the motorway - and even prevented one man from missing his father's funeral.

However, there were figures willing to come to the group's defence, including former Newsnight host Emily Maitlis, who compared the group to Rosa Parks and the Suffragettes.

Ms Delap was sentenced on August 1 to 20 months in prison at Basildon Crown Court after breaching a National Highways injunction that sought to stop protesters grinding the M25 to a halt.

Activists carried out the blockade across different parts of the M25 motorway orbiting London

Twenty-five legal, women's and prison reform organisations have rallied around the pensioner in order to heap pressure on Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood and call on her to use her discretionary powers to revoke the recall

She was then one of four activists who were released early and she was freed on November 18 on a home detention curfew.

Mrs Delap previously told the judge that her 'heart was breaking' for the future of her six grandchildren.

Mr Justice Soole found that she and nine of the others had not been made aware of the injunction by a Just Stop Oil mentor prior to the protest, describing the omission as a 'significant failure and breach of trust'.

According to Ms Delap's daughter, Lily Pridie, the severity of the sentence came as a shock to the family.

Upon sentencing, she said the family will 'miss the childcare' and that Ms Dalep's granddaughters, then both under one, will miss seeing her.