Just Stop Oil activists plead not guilty over Stansted Airport protest charges

The activists have pleaded not guilty to criminal damage and interfering with national infrastructure.

Just Stop Oil activists Jennifer Kowalski (left) and Cole Macdonald arriving at Chelmsford Crown Court (Yui Mok/ PA) (PA Wire)

Two Just Stop Oil activists have denied criminal damage and interfering with national infrastructure after two private jets were sprayed with orange paint in a protest at Stansted Airport.

The group said at the time of the incident, on June 20, that activists had entered the airfield and used fire extinguishers filled with orange paint.

Jennifer Kowalski, 28, of Dumbarton in Scotland, and 22-year-old Cole Macdonald, of Brighton both pleaded not guilty at Chelmsford Crown Court on Thursday to criminal damage and interfering with national infrastructure.

The aircraft were owned by Prudential Insurance and by an investment group, according to charges read to the court.

Essex Police previously confirmed that the private jet of pop star Taylor Swift, which Just Stop Oil said had landed at Stansted “mere hours before”, was not at the airport at the time.

The two defendants are due to stand trial at the same court from September 15 next year, with a time-estimate of three to four days indicated.

Prosecutors told an earlier hearing that the cost of cleaning up the paint was £52,000.

Judge Mary Loram KC set a pre-trial review hearing for August 26 next year.

She granted both defendants bail, with conditions including that they do not go within a mile of an airport save for on moving public transport.