Just Stop Oil activists plead not guilty to damaging Stansted private jets

Two Just Stop Oil (JSO) activists have denied causing at least £52,000 of damage after two private jets were sprayed with orange paint at Stansted.
Jennifer Kowalski, 28, of Dumbarton in Scotland, and Cole Macdonald, 22, of Brighton, pleaded not guilty to causing criminal damage and interfering with national infrastructure at Chelmsford crown court.
The pair are alleged to have used angle grinders to break through an airport fence at around 5am on July 20 before entering a taxiway with Just Stop Oil-branded fire extinguishers filled with orange spray paint.
The prosecution said that cleaning up the paint cost £52,000, although the extent of the damage to the fence and the cost of extra security in the aftermath was not yet known.
The court heard that thousands of passengers were affected because 75 flights were disrupted during a 38-minute delay.
Kowalski and Macdonald previously denied causing criminal damage and interfering with national infrastructure at an earlier appearance at Chelmsford magistrates’ court. They were also charged with aggravated trespass, though they had not been asked to enter pleas until now.
At the time of the incident, Essex police said it detained two people who gained access to a private area of an airfield and were “causing damage to two aircraft”.
The aircraft were owned by Prudential Insurance and by an investment group, according to charges read to the court.
The two defendants are due to stand for a four-day trial at the same court from September 15 next year.
Judge Mary Loram KC granted both defendants bail, with conditions including that they do not go within a mile of an airport apart from on moving public transport.
The force confirmed that the private jet of Taylor Swift, which JSO said had landed at Stansted “mere hours before”, was not at the airport.