Just Stop Oil activists plead not guilty in connection with airport protests

Just Stop Oil activists have denied allegations of vandalism and disruption of national infrastructure after two private jets were sprayed with orange paint during a protest at an airport.

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

Cole Macdonald, of Brighton, is charged along with Jennifer Kowalski, 28, of Dumbarton in Scotland.

Macdonald, 22, and Kowalski pleaded not guilty to malicious damage and disruption of national infrastructure at Chelmsford Crown Court on Thursday.

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According to the charges read in court, the planes were owned by Prudential Insurance and an investment group.

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

The two defendants are due to appear before the same court on September 15 next year. The trial is expected to last three to four days.

At an earlier hearing, prosecutors said the cost of removing the paint was £52,000.

Judge Mary Loram KC has scheduled a pre-trial hearing for August 26 next year.

She granted bail to both defendants, on the condition, among other things, that they not go within one mile of an airport (except on moving public transportation).