Three Just Stop Oil activists have been found not guilty of criminal damage after spraying orange powder on Stonehenge. Rajan Naidu (74), Niamh Lynch (23) and Luke Watson (36) successfully argued they had "reasonable excuse" under human rights law protecting freedom of speech and protest.
The trio used colour blasters to spray cornflour-based powder with orange dye on the prehistoric stone circle on June 19, 2024. The protest occurred the day before the summer solstice, when approximately 15,000 people were expected to gather at the site. All three denied charges of damaging an ancient protected monument and causing a public nuisance.
Legal Defence
The defendants invoked Articles 10 and 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which protect freedom of speech and freedom to protest. Judge Paul Dugdale instructed the jury to assess where the «balance lies» and whether a conviction would be a «proportionate interference» with the defendants' rights. The jury deliberated for six hours before returning not guilty verdicts on both charges.
Court Proceedings
Prosecutor Simon Jones described the act as «blatant and clear vandalism» and told the court: «Putting it simply, we say they were all in it together.» He emphasized that Stonehenge is «arguably the best recognised and architecturally sophisticated prehistoric stone circle in the world, built around 5,000 years ago.» The cleaning cost totalled £620.
Judge Dugdale told jurors: «There are times when protecting the right to freedom of speech and freedom to protest can mean that activity that would otherwise be unlawful would be regarded as lawful by the court to protect those rights.» He added: «The essence of a free society and freedom of speech is that everyone's entitled to express their opinion even when we disagree with what they say.»
Note: This article was created with Artificial Intelligence (AI).
