Anti-Ulez activist Kevin Rees, who blew up a camera enforcing London’s ultra-low emission zone scheme with a home-made bomb, has been jailed for 15 years. The Telegraph has more.
Kevin Rees, 63, a retired electrical appliances engineer, prompted a counter-terrorism investigation by detonating explosives in the camera in Sidcup, south London, at 6.45pm on Dec 6th 2023.
The improvised explosive device damaged cars and property up to 100m away, with shrapnel striking the outside of a child’s bedroom.
Rees, of Sidcup, was convicted after a trial at Woolwich Crown Court in January of one count of causing an explosion likely to endanger life. On Friday, Judge Anthony Bate sentenced him at the Old Bailey to 15 years in prison.
Det Ch Supt James Derham, who leads local policing in the Bexley area, said: “It was miraculous that nobody was killed or seriously injured in the large explosion caused by Rees.
“He showed a complete disregard for the welfare and safety of the people who live in, or were travelling through, the area at the time of the explosion – all because he was unhappy with the Ulez scheme.
“CCTV from a bus travelling down the road at the time shows how it narrowly missed the blast of debris by seconds.”
Rees’s sentencing comes a day after 700 prisoners were released from jail as part of Labour’s efforts to avoid prisons running out of space. They were released after serving only a third of their sentences for offences including theft, assault, domestic abuse and fraud.
Another 3,800 will be released early over the next 10 months, including more serious offenders who were sentenced to spend more than a decade in jail.
There was strong opposition to the Ulez scheme, which requires drivers to pay a daily charge based on their car’s emissions, after it was expanded in 2023 to cover all London boroughs.
Transport for London (TfL) uses cameras to monitor the vehicles that enter and exit the zone, triggering fines for motorists who have not paid the daily charge.
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Yeah, sure. That’s why he got 15 years. Because if there is one thing the establishment won’t tolerate is serious injury to ordinary people.
The heavy handedness has nothing at all to do with the fact that the most draconian punishments just always seem to go to people who challenge the state’s polocies and authority.
😂