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Australian boat race protester jailed

By Europe correspondent Rachael Brown, wires

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Trenton Oldfield - Oxford-Cambridge Uni boat race charges
Trenton Oldfield jumped into the River Thames and disrupted the prestigious race(

AFP: Leon Neal

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The Australian protestor who disrupted the prestigious Oxford-Cambridge university boat race on London's River Thames in April has been sentenced to six months in jail.

Anti-elitism campaigner Trenton Oldfield, 36, said he was trying to highlight inequality across Britain and the UK government's spending cuts.

A jury found him guilty last month of causing a public nuisance.

The judge said he spoiled the right of others to enjoy the race, and ordered him to serve at least three months behind bars.

Oldfield looked surprised as the sentence was passed down at Isleworth Crown Court in west London.

He had leaped into the river in a wetsuit and swam between the boats of Oxford and Cambridge universities in what he claimed was a protest against elitism.

It was the first time in the 158-year history of the annual rowing race between England's most prestigious universities that it has been interrupted by a swimmer.

Judge Anne Molyneux said Oldfield had acted dangerously and had failed to show what he was actually protesting about.

"You did nothing to address inequality by giving yourself the right to spoil the enjoyment of others," she said.

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"The rowers had trained for many months.


A statement from four-time Olympic rowing gold medallist Matthew Pinsent, who was in a launch near the incident, was read out in court.

"He could have been killed if he had been struck by an oar or the rigging, which is metal," the statement said.

His wife, Deepa Naik, spoke outside court.

"London today is the most unequal society in the Western World," she said.

"The criminalisation of protest and of protesters is a reflection of the hyper-anxiety of the bosses and the ruling classes."

Oldfield was supported by a group of well-wishers as he arrived at court and posed with a banner reading: "Stop criminalising protest".


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