Birthday vigil for West Country granny in prison over tagging scandal

Supporters of a woman who was sent back to prison because a Government contractor claimed they couldn’t find an electronic tag small enough for her wrist are planning a silent, candlelit vigil this week outside the prison where she is being held. The vigil, led by Bristol’s Quakers, is set to take place on Friday evening, January 10, which coincides with Gaie Delap’s 78th birthday.

Advocates of the climate change activist from Bristol will assemble at the Huntsman pub in Falfield, near Thornbury, and march to the gates of the nearby Eastwood Park women’s prison in South Gloucestershire, where Ms Delaps is currently incarcerated. The elderly woman’s predicament, first brought to light by Bristol Live in December when she was initially threatened with recall to prison, has incited outrage from politicians, prison reform campaigners and celebrities, including Chris Packham who has drawn attention to her case.

Family and friends of the 77 year old have expressed their primary concern is for her health while in prison – she was receiving treatment for various conditions from her GP and hospitals during her release, and that treatment has been interrupted by her return to prison last month.

Gaie Delap, a participant in the Just Stop Oil protest that led to the closure of the M25 in November 2022, was sentenced to 20 months in prison in August 2024. However, she was released in October to serve the remainder of her sentence under house arrest, enforced with an electronic tag.

Due to her health condition, she couldn’t wear a tag on her ankle, and Serco/EMS, the contractors for the Probation Service, didn’t have a small enough tag to attach to her wrist.

Documents provided to Gaie Delap’s legal team reveal that the contractors who were supposed to fit the 77 year old with an electronic tag reported that she had refused it – a claim she strongly denies. Her lawyers argue that the contractors misled the probation service, leading to her return to prison, and failed to source a smaller wrist tag commonly used for individuals who can’t wear an ankle bracelet.

Before Christmas, Gaie Delap was taken back into custody and has since been held at Eastwood Park. Carla Denyer, her local MP, has been advocating for her, and environmentalist and TV presenter Chris Packham urged Justice Minister Shabana Mahmood to release her in a Christmas Day video posted on his social media channels.

“She’s a 77-year-old retired teacher,” Mr Packham said. “What she was protesting about when she was arrested is already Government policy, so she was right.

“What isn’t right, I don’t think, is that she’s spending her Christmas Day in prison. We’ve just elected a new Government, with a massive majority, and a mandate to make life better for all of us – a Government headed up by a former lawyer, with a specialist interest in human rights. So can I please send a message to our Minister for Justice, Shabana Mahmood.

X embed video of Chris Packham appealing on Christmas Day 2024 for the release of Just Stop Oil grandmother Gaie Delap

“I understand you have it within your power to essentially get Gaie out of prison, so maybe we could just put matters of fiscal policy, inflation, planning, housebuilding, to one side for a few moments on Christmas Day, and concentrate on being better human beings, concentrate on humanity, on simple kindnesses. Shabana, can I ask you to get Gaie out of prison? Could I ask you to get some real justice in place here. That would be great, that would be a fantastic present for Gaie, her family and the whole of the UK,” she added.

That Christmas Day appeal did not work, Gaie Delap is still in prison, with her next hope a legal challenge to the paperwork and report that meant she was returned. A fundraiser to support her legal challenge, organised by the Good Law Project, today went past its £20,000 initial target, with hundreds of people donating.

Bristol grandmother Gaie Delap is among those who has been jailed this summer
(Image: PA)

The legal case to appeal against her recall to prison will be based on the failure of the probation service contractors to seek an alternative wrist strap for the electronic tag. “Gaie is speechless and angry – that they are completely misrepresenting what happened,” her brother Mick Delap said. “She has never ever refused a tag. She feels this is so wrong. She feels like she is caught up in a web of deceit, and powerless to tell the truth. The technicality here is that she can’t reside at her home because she wasn’t tagged. It now seems to us that Gaie has been recalled to prison due to fabricated reports,” he added.

Friend Mike Campbell said keeping Gaie in prison when she isn’t supposed to be is costing the taxpayer thousands of pounds. “We have already established that the law says ‘may’ as opposed to ‘must’, and that there exist suitable alternative means of providing electronic monitoring,” he said. “These need to be found and supplied so Gaie can return home as soon as possible to serve the rest of her sentence in the community. This will be better for her health and wellbeing, while saving the taxpayer at least £4000 per month,” he added.

Image Credits and Reference: https://www.gloucestershirelive.co.uk/news/regional-news/birthday-vigil-west-country-granny-9841794

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