Jailed Insulate Britain vicar mocked for sympathy postcards request

Insulate Britain vicar, 63, jailed for causing traffic chaos in road blockade is mocked for asking people to send him sympathy postcards – that posties would have to deliver in diesel vans

• Rev Mark Coleman is serving a five week sentence at HMP Thameside 
• Coleman took part in Insulate Britain protests that caused traffic chaos last year 

A retired vicar jailed for his eco protest has been mocked for wanting people to send him sympathy postcards to read while behind bars.

One fuming Brit accused Mark Coleman of being a hypocrite saying the Royal Mail would have to deliver it to him in their diesel van.

The 63-year-old clergyman was sentenced to five weeks in prison for blocking a road in Bishopsgate in the City of London last October.

Coleman – who supported Just Stop Oil and Insulate Britain – is locked up in Category B Thameside Prison.

Speaking during his trial Rev Coleman had attempted to justify his actions as an act of ‘peaceful, non-violent resistance.’ 

Rev Mark Coleman has asked supporters to message him in prison (Pictured being arrested on September 21, 2021)

Coleman (right) was part of an Insulate Britain protest that blocked Bishopsgate in London

Coleman is now asking his supporters to send him letters while he is in prison 

He said: ‘I sat on Bishopsgate in the City of London with many other supporters of Insulate Britain as an act of peaceful, non-violent resistance to the murderous behaviour of our government.

‘To leave people in cold, badly insulated homes, especially older and vulnerable people, is immoral and cruel.

‘British people care for their neighbours, and do not usually walk by ”on the other side”, ignoring the suffering of others.  Our families, friends and neighbours are suffering. It does not have to be like this. 

‘Insulating Britain and stopping these reckless plans for new gas and oil wells are common sense first steps away from disaster. I call on Rishi Sunak to do his duty as a minister of the crown: to serve the people.’

Coleman attended the £36,000 a year Merchiston Castle boarding school in Edinburgh before graduating in law at Kent University and getting a master’s degree in Theology. 

He was ordained in 2000 and served as a rector in West Derby, Liverpool before moving to Rochdale in 2014 where he was made vicar and Borough Dean.

He announced his retirement in February last year due to Parkinson’s disease, which he was diagnosed with several years ago.

The vicar is serving a five week sentence at HMP Thameside 

Insulate Britain climate change activists blocking traffic on Bishopsgate in the City of London near Liverpool Street station last year

Now that’s he’s been caged, his son Harvey has tried to gain sympathy after he was sentenced for public nuisance at London crown court last Thursday (20 April).

He tweeted from his father’s account and said: ‘I am Harvey, Mark’s son, writing to tell you that he was sentenced to five weeks.

‘He is now in Thameside prison.

‘The sentence was for public nuisance. He sat on the road in the City of London.’

Harvey added: ‘Mark would be thrilled to hear from you.’

READ MORE: Insulate Britain reverend, 63,  defends eco-stunt as ‘non-violent resistance to the murderous behaviour of our government’

One angry social media  fumed: ‘A postcard or letter you say?

‘How does that letter get delivered to him? Carrier pigeon?

‘No. Via Royal Mails network of trucks and other oil powered vehicles.

‘The hypocrisy is off the charts.’

Another recoiled at the very notion, saying: ‘Bad idea putting his email out there.

‘I think he’ll have more haters than supporters contacting him.’

Another said: ‘Trust me, he wouldn’t be pleased to hear from me.

‘I would tell him how disappointed I was he didn’t get five years in jail.’

One person fumed: ‘Good. His nasty hobby of baiting hard working people is vile.’

Another said: ‘Five weeks?

‘That’s outrageous.

‘It should be a minimum sentence of at least five years.’

Finally one person sagely warned: ‘Actions have consequences.

‘Even men of the cloth aren’t above the law.’

Source: Read Full Article