On 7 September, two Bristol-based anti-fracking protesters were found not guilty of aggravated trespass, but a third was convicted of failing to leave as soon as practicable, at the Cuadrilla Resource’s test drilling rig beside the Ribble estuary in Lancashire. The three had shut down the gas-extraction operation for 13 hours on 1 December 2011.
During the trial it was established that Cuadrilla had been drilling for two months longer than allowed at the time of arrests.
The sentence for the third protester was a £250 fine with £750 costs.