Power station protesters cleared
Six Greenpeace activists have been cleared of
causing criminal damage during a protest over
coal-fired power.
The activists were charged with causing £30,000 of damage after they scaled
Kingsnorth power station in Hoo, Kent.
At Maidstone Crown Court Judge David Caddick said the jury had to examine whether
protesters had a lawful excuse.
The defendants said the protest was lawful because it aimed to prevent damaging
emissions. Energy firm E.ON said lives had been put at risk.
Five people who scaled the chimney - Huw Williams, 41, of Nottingham; Ben Stewart,
34, of Lyminge, Kent; Kevin Drake, 44, of Westbury, Wiltshire; Will Rose, 29, of
London; and Emily Hall, 34, from New Zealand - were all charged with causing
criminal damage.
'Gordon, bin it'
Tim Hewke, 48, from Ulcombe, Kent, accused by the prosecution of organising the
protest from the ground, also faced the same charge.
Jurors heard how protesters painted the name "Gordon" on the 200m (650ft) chimney
on 8 October last year, in a political protest against the redevelopment of the plant as a
coal-burning unit.
They had planned to daub the words "Gordon, bin it" on the stack in a reference to
Prime Minister Gordon Brown, but were threatened with a High Court injunction and
arrested.
After the hearing, E.ON spokeswoman Emily Highmore said the firm, which is
planning to build a coal-fired unit at the plant was
“hugely disappointed”
She said: "We respect people's right to protest, but what Greenpeace did was hugely
irresponsible. It put people's lives at risk and that is clearly completely unacceptable."
Ms Highmore called for an "open and honest debate" about the challenges of energy and
climate change, but added: "That's a debate that shouldn't be taking place at the top of a
chimney stack."
She added: "Our men and women who work at Kingsnorth have a right to go to work to
do their lawful business and to do it safely, so we're very concerned indeed about
today's outcome."
Outside the court, activist Mr Stewart said the verdict was “a tipping point for the
climate change movement”.
He said: “When 12 normal people say it is legitimate for a direct action group to shut
down a coal-fired power station because of the harm it does to our planet then where
does that leave government energy policy?
Mr Stewart called for “clean technologies” to be
used instead of coal. And he said: “This is a huge
blow for ministers and their plans for new coal-
fired power stations”.
There has been no government response to the
verdict.
