Pews to screws...climate-protest vicar on his time behind bars

TO HIS friends and former parishioners he is Reverend Mark Coleman, the retired Vicar of Rochdale - but in prison his fellow inmates referred to him as 'The Old Man'

- DAMON WILKINSON

Last month Mr Coleman, 64, was jailed after taking part in a climate change demonstration which brought the City of London to a standstill. He was one of a number of Insulate Britain protesters who sat in the road at the Bishopsgate junction during a two-hour protest in October.

Since standing down from the church in February 2022 due to ill health, Mr Coleman has become a prominent environmental activist, known as the 'Rochdale Rebel! But, on April 20, his actions landed him in prison when a judge at Inner London Crown Court sentenced him to five weeks in prison for causing a public nuisance.

After being taken down from the dock Mr Coleman, dressed in his clerical shirt and collar, was sent to HMP Thameside, a category B prison in Greenwich, south London, where fellow inmates were serving time for firearms, robbery, drugs and sexual offences.

A bible he'd taken with him was confiscated on entry. He changed into prison issue sweatshirt and pants and was placed in the over 40s D wing in cell 19. His cellmate, an experienced lag with around 15 years of prison time, took Mr Coleman under his wing.