Supporters of a Bristol woman recalled to prison because a Government contractor said they couldn’t find an electronic tag small enough for her wrist are going to hold a silent, candlelit vigil this week outside the prison where she is being held.
The vigil will be led by Bristol’s Quakers and is to take place on Friday evening, January 10, which will be Gaie Delap’s 78th birthday. Supporters of the climate change campaigner are to gather at the Huntsman pub in Falfield, near Thornbury, and walk to the gates of the nearby Eastwood Park women’s prison, where Ms Delaps is being held.
The pensioner’s plight, first reported by Bristol Live in December when she was initially threatened with recall to prison, has sparked fury from politicians, prison reform campaigners and celebrities, with the likes of Chris Packham highlighting her case.
Family and friends of the 77-year-old said they are most worried about her health in prison – she was being treated for a variety of conditions by her GP and hospitals while she was released, and that treatment has been disrupted by her return to prison last month.
Gaie Delap took part in a Just Stop Oil protest which saw the M25 closed to traffic back in November 2022. She was given a 20-month jail sentence in August 2024, but released in October to serve the rest of her sentence under home curfew, enforced with an electronic monitoring tag. Her health condition means she can’t have a tag attached to her ankle, and the Probation Service’s contractors Serco/EMS did not have a tag small enough to attach to her wrist.
Papers released to Gaie Delap’s legal team show the contractors sent to fix an electronic tag on the 77-year-old said she had refused the tag – something she vehemently denies. Her legal team’s case is, in part, that the contractors have misled the probation service, prompting her recall to prison, as well as the failure to source a widely-available smaller wrist tag which is commonly used for people who can’t have an ankle bracelet.
Gaie Delap was eventually detained and recalled to prison before Christmas, and since then has been held at Eastwood Park. Her local MP Carla Denyer has been making representations on her behalf, and environmentalist and TV presenter Chris Packham called on Justice Minister Shabana Mahmood to release her in a Christmas Day video 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.
“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.
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.
Bristol Live WhatsApp Breaking News and Top Stories
Join Bristol Live’s WhatsApp community for top stories and breaking news sent directly to your phone
Bristol Live is now on WhatsApp and we want you to join our community.
Through the app, we’ll send the latest breaking news, top stories, exclusives and much more straight to your phone.
To join our community you need to already have WhatsApp. All you need to do is click this link and select ‘Join Community’.
No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the Bristol Live team.
We also treat community members to special offers, promotions and adverts from us and our partners. If you don’t like our community, you can check out at any time you like.
To leave our community, click on the name at the top of your screen and choose ‘Exit group’.
If you’re curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.