GP jailed for climate protest has suspension extended after arguing his actions were justified

A Bristol GP jailed for damaging petrol pumps in a climate protest has seen his suspension from the UK medical register extended after refusing to concede his actions were wrong.Patrick Hart took part in numerous climate protests before disabling and damaging petrol pumps at an Esso station in Essex with a hammer and paint in 2022.He was sentenced to 12 months in prison for criminal damage in January 2025.While in prison, he was visited by the UN special rapporteur on environmental defenders, Michel Forst, who condemned the UK’s punitive approach to climate protesters as “blatantly disproportionate.”1The UN envoy also accused medical regulator the General Medical Council (GMC) of “persecution or harassment of Dr Hart” and “astonishingly paradoxical reasoning” for referring him to the medical practitioners tribunal that would later suspend him.It would be “punishing him for a second time,” said Forst, “for having taken action to address what the GMC…