Two Just Stop Oil activists have been convicted of damaging snooker tables at the World Snooker Championships.
Edred Whittingham, 26, of May Street, Exeter, was convicted of criminal damage following a trial at Sheffield Magistrates' Court on Friday, 10th May 2024.
Margaret Reid, 53, of Low Fellside, Kendal, was convicted of attempted criminal damage at the same trial.
Criminal damage is an offence under section 1(1) of the Criminal Damage Act 1971. Criminal damage below £5,000 is a summary offence, with a maximum penalty of 3 months' custody and/or a fine at level 4. We have previously written a guide to the offence of criminal damage, which some readers may find of interest.
District Judge Daniel Curtis heard that the pair, who both denied their offences, disrupted play at Sheffield's Crucible Theatre on the evening of Monday, 17th April 2023.
Television cameras caught the moment that home energy advisor Whittingham clambered on top of table one during the match of Robert Milkins and Joe Perry.
Once there he produced a packet of orange powder - now identifed as dyed corn starch - and scattered it, causing £899.90 worth of damage to the cloth.
At the same time Reid was trying to replicate the stunt on table two, where a match was taking place between Mark Allen and Fan Zhengyi.
Match referee Olivier Marteel was able to pull the ex-museum worker back off the table before she managed to get her second leg up.
Alison Goldsmith, prosecuting, wouldn't have had too tricky a time proving either offence, with both defendants admitting their actions on the day.
In cross-examination, Whittingham said: "I didn't intend to cause damage, I intended to cause disruption."
As chance would have it, criminal damage can be committed recklessly as well as intentionally.
When pressed further, he conceded: "I accept there was a risk that damage could take place.
"I judged that risk to be proportionate in light of the existential threat we face from the climate crisis."
Whittingham told the court that he had spent £300 on a ticket, to ensure he was seated close to the front of the auditorium.
In giving her evidence, Reid said there were "no other effective options" to halt "the pain and death and misery" that climate change will bring.
She added: "We need shaking out of our stupor.
"We need a shock. We need an action like we took to make us jump out of the pan.
"I didn't set out to cause criminal damage. I set out to draw attention to the dire situation that we are in."
Asked about the impact of her actions on spectators, Reid said: "I'm really sorry about that but I was really aware that these same individuals would be so much worse affected by the impact of fossil fuels."
Having considered the evidence, DJ Curtis was of the view that neither defendant had a lawful excuse for their actions. He duly convicted them of the offences at hand.
The pair were granted unconditional bail until their sentencing at Sheffield Magistrates' Court on Wednesday, 10th July 2024.
Update (10/7/24): Whittingham and Reid have been sentenced.
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