A protester from Brighton has been bailed by a court after a Just Stop Oil protest at Stansted in Essex.
Cole Macdonald, 22, of Baker Street, Brighton, was one of two protesters to appear at Chelmsford Crown Court today (Monday 22 July).
She and Jennifer Kowalski, 28, of Dumbarton, in Scotland, were accused of damaging two jet aircraft that were sprayed with orange paint at Stansted.
The pair are said to have used angle grinders to break through a fence at the airport at about 5am on Thursday 20 June before using fire extinguishers filled with paint.
Prosecutors allege that the cost of cleaning up the paint was £52,000 although an earlier hearing was told that the full cost, including the damage to the fence and the amount needed to fund extra security, was not yet known.
The defendants, who are on conditional bail, were not asked to enter pleas to charges and the case was adjourned until Thursday 15 August.
At an earlier hearing at Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court, the pair indicated that they would plead not guilty to causing criminal damage and interfering with national infrastructure.
Kowalski and Macdonald are also both charged with aggravated trespass although they have not been asked to indicate their pleas to this.
Judge Christopher Morgan told the pair today: “Please return to this court on Thursday 15 August – I anticipate that you will.”
They were both bailed until the next court hearing on Thursday 15 August.
Custodial sentences are on the table if it follows the way some of the other convictions so far.
And rightly so.
Many would agree with you too. I wonder if it fits this particular crime though?
Lock ’em up and make them pay for all the damages.
Just to play devil’s advocate here – the lock ’em up part would cost the taxpayer far more than the damages caused. There are also arguments that their actions are part of free speech, and as a non-violent crime, it appears to have disproportionate sentencing compared to more violent crimes.
Personally, I don’t think jail is the just action here; I am more inclined to say an ankle monitor and nature-based community service for a proportional amount of time for the damages caused would be very in-keeping with their environmental theme.
As they are so against oil perhaps a suitable punishment would be to sentence them to spend a month without using anything that has had a connection with oil…
Community Service would be pretty fitting, management of weeds is always up there on the list of things to do, and the extra manpower would certainly help and pretty fitting.
Hopefully they will use their bail time to put things in order for their absence.