AUSTRALIAN boat race protester Trenton Oldfield has been hit with a six-month jail sentence for causing a public nuisance at this year's Oxford-Cambridge rowing race.
The anti-elitism campaigner delayed the annual race in London by 25 minutes after swimming out in front of the crews on April 7.
In delivering her verdict at a west London court, judge Anne Molyneux was damning of Oldfield.
"Your offence was planned," she said.
"It was deliberate. It was disproportionate. It was dangerous. You have shown no regret."
Oldfield will be due for release after serving three months of the sentence.
The 36-year-old London-based activist said in court last month that he was protesting against inequality and that the boat race symbolised elitism within Britain.
The former Sydney schoolboy rower said last month the severe budget cuts in the Britain had tipped him over the edge.
A 12-person jury at Isleworth Crown Court last month found him guilty of causing a public nuisance.
Oldfield, who has worked heavily in social projects and with volunteer groups over the past decade in London, had not committed a criminal offence before jumping in the Thames six months ago.
Ms Molyneux said that Oldfield had shown prejudice by targeting the sporting event between the United Kingdom's most venerated and influential universities.
"You made the decision to sabotage the race based on the membership of its participants of a group to which you took exception," she said.
"That is prejudice. No good ever comes from prejudice."
"Every individual and group of society is entitled to respect."
Dozens of friends and supporters of Oldfield lifted a banner outside Isleworth Crown Court that read: "Stop criminalising protest".
Oldfield was ordered to pay costs of STG750 ($A1168).
Oldfield's wife Deepa Naik said outside court the punishment dished out to her husband wouldn't deter him from protesting again on his release from jail.
"He has a strong spirit and he stands by what he did," she said.
She said the custodial sentence was a reflection of the fears of the establishment over Oldfield's actions.
"Most nation states work very hard at maintaining untrue myths about themselves," she said.
"Great Britain has convinced many that it is the home of democracy and a gauge of civilisation.
"Anyone living here today knows Britain is a brutal, deeply divided class-driven place.
"London is today the most unequal society in the western world. This poverty and inequality is totally unnecessary and has been severely exacerbated by government cuts and reductions in civil liberties."
She called on Australians to voice their disapproval over the ruling.
"Please come out and make your concern known as much as possible in solidarity with Trenton," she said.
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