The co-founder of Extinction Rebellion Gail Bradbrook has been found guilty of criminal damage to the Department for Transport (DfT) following a four-year legal saga.
Climate activist Bradbrook was accused of causing £27,500 in damage to the DfT building in Westminster by smashing a plate-glass window during a protest in London in 2019.
The Extinction Rebellion activist group staged prolonged demonstrations in April and October 2019 and September 2020, when protesters blocked entrances, halted traffic, glued themselves to buildings and roads, defaced a statue of Britain’s wartime Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and disrupted newspaper printing.
During the October protest, Bradbrook climbed onto an entrance canopy at the DfT’s headquarters. Protesting against the department’s policies, such as support for High Speed Rail 2 and Heathrow airport expansion, the activist used tools to break a reinforced security glass pane.
The cost of replacing it came to £27,500.
Bradbrook was convicted on Wednesday, after two-day trial at Isleworth Crown Court. Her first trial, held in July, was aborted after the judge told Bradbrook to stop speaking about her motivations in smashing the DfT window. The defendant defied the order.
She argued that if government officials knew the reasons for her actions, they would possibly consent that breaking the glass had been legally necessary.
At the second trial, Judge Martin Edmunds, KC warned that if she didn’t comply with the order, she could risk being charged with contempt of court.
“If your intention is to deliberately breach the restrictions that have been imposed by the law, then you know the consequences that might follow,” the judge said.
Speaking after the verdict, Bradbrook said she was “at peace with it.” Bradbrook admitted she had no defence in law and argued that authorities should instead be prosecuting the politicians and corporations causing criminal damage on a “planetary scale.”
The prosecution argued that there was no lawful excuse for Bradbrook’s actions that caused damage to the DfT building.
“Even if you admire this defendant, even if you share her beliefs and are just as worried about the environmental damage as she is … your duty which you just swore to carry out is to reach a verdict according to the evidence, not according to your sympathies,” said prosecutor Kate Wilkinson.
The court also heard the judge say that Bradbrook’s case was not about the climate crisis principles, but about breaking a window.
Legal Precedent
Following the incident in 2019, Bradbrook’s trial was postponed owing to the COVID-19 pandemic and in the aftermath of a political row over the acquittal of Black Lives Matter protesters in 2022.None of the defendants denied their involvement but claimed that the presence of the statue was a hate crime and that it was therefore not an offence to remove it.
Reacting to the acquittal, Downing Street said vandalism “remained a crime” and it expected police to take it seriously. Ministers said it was unacceptable to destroy public property and the government will always “fix any loopholes in the law” when necessary.
Reacting to the court’s Wednesday verdict, the Green Party MP for Brighton Pavilion, Caroline Lucas, said on X, formerly known as Twitter, that “principled people” were criminalised for “taking climate and nature action.”
Bradbrook has been released on bail, awaiting a sentencing hearing on Dec. 18.
She could face 18 months in jail, but the judge said a suspended sentence could be an option.
