A Brighton woman and a fellow Just Stop Oil protester have denied causing at least £52,000 worth of damage to private jets sprayed with orange paint at Stansted airport.
Cole Macdonald, 22, of Baker Street, Brighton, and Jennifer Kowalski, 28, of Dumbarton, pleaded not guilty at Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court today (Saturday 22 June) to causing criminal damage and interfering with national infrastructure.
The pair are accused of using angle grinders to break through an airport fence at around 5am on Thursday.
They entered a taxiway with Just Stop Oil-branded fire extinguishers filled with orange spray paint, the court was told, before spraying two aircraft.
Both appeared in court via videolink from Chelmsford police station, with the prosecution telling the court that the cost of cleaning up the paint was £52,000.
But the full damage to the fence and amount needed to fund extra security in the wake of the alleged stunt is not yet known.
The court was told that thousands of passengers were affected because 75 flights were disrupted during a 38-minute delay.
Kowalski and Macdonald are also both charged with aggravated trespass, though they were not asked to enter pleas for that.
The pair were remanded in custody to appear at a plea and trial preparation hearing at Chelmsford Crown Court on Monday 22 July.
One supporter swore loudly from the public gallery after they were denied bail.
Environmental group Just Stop Oil said that activists had entered the airfield and used fire extinguishers filled with orange paint.
Essex Police said that it detained two people after they gained access to a private area of an airfield and were “causing damage to two aircraft”.
Just Stop Oil said that Taylor Swift’s private jet had landed at Stansted “mere hours before” but police said that it was not there at the time of the alleged offences.
Self righteous, preening half wits. Lock them up for a good long time.
Good old ankle monitor and an order to stay away from every historical site, snooker hall, and major motorway would seem quite fitting.
No the amount of damage means a jail term is the only option.
I wonder what these cluelessly incompetent activists are denying – wasn’t the entire offence videod?
These people are not very bright. Their immature campaign illustrates that.
I’m all for ending reliance on fossil fuel, but the solutions require structure and intelligence which these bone-heads do not offer. It’s sad, because it damages the valid argument.
Maybe they are really agents of oil companies trying to trash the cause.
All things worth succeeding in have been done by violence and protest. Ghandi, Malcolm x etc. It was a token and futile effort ,still an effort that got attention. Surely we are already moving to electric in all spheres with nuclear and others also so this is unnecessary and annoying glory seeking.
The world needs to stop flying especially in private jets, but no one is listening as prior comments show and PMs dashing all over UK in oversized climate destroying jets. At least some are trying to get the message over even if their methodology is illegal.
If no-one is listening, as you put it, perhaps the method is incorrect. Fruit of the poisonous tree. And the fruit isn’t that appealing.
An attempt to stop the world and put us all on donkeys is ridiculous and infantile.
The world is not going to shrink when industry and technology is so far beyond your understanding, and pathetic childish pranks are not going to stop it. Chinese industry and world trade will not stop no matter how many times you glue yourself to some road in Telscombe Cliffs.
The goal is not to hinder the modern world, but to reinvent it and find a way to go with it with alternative fuels and advancement of travel in a way that will reverse the damage done to this planet. If you think the answer is to go live in a cave, then off you go. Someone has to find these answers, and it certainly won’t come from these throwbacks.
I think this is the first time that the distribution of orange substances has resulted in being held on remand. Take note !
Donald Trump might want to have a word with you about that!
Funny
Criminal damage, plus spraying jets could cost lives if the spray gets into engines. With so much damage the two should serve jail terms.