Three Just Stop Oil supporters have been found not guilty by a jury in Salisbury today for spraying Stonehenge with orange powder in 2024. They took action to demand that the UK government commit to signing a fossil fuel treaty to end the extraction and burning of oil, gas and coal by 2030. [1]
Niamh Lynch, Rajan Naidu and Luke Watson appeared at Salisbury Crown Court before Judge Dugdale charged with ‘destroying or damaging an ancient protected monument’, and ‘intentionally or recklessly causing a public nuisance’. Lynch and Naidu had sprayed orange cornstarch powder over three of the megaliths at Stonehenge on 19th June 2024, while Luke Watson had assisted in planning the action and drove the pair to the site. [2]
Today, after a two week trial, the jury returned a unanimous verdict of not guilty for all three on both counts.
Speaking after the verdict, Rajan Naidu, 74, an activist for social justice and environmental protection from Birmingham said:
“The judicial system must wake up and begin to play its shamefully neglected role in defending us and other species from rapacious billionaire class climate criminals – the ruthless corporations that extract vast profits and other benefits as they trash and pollute with impunity; industries and businesses that destabilise and devastate entire environments and now threaten our beautiful planet’s biosphere, our one and only life support system. Life and survival before greed and profit! We need a global Fossil Fuel Nonproliferation Treaty right now. “
Niamh Lynch, 23, a Masters student in Ecology and Conservation from Bedford said:
“I refuse to accept that it has to be this way, that billions of living beings should be needlessly suffering and dying, to make a few rich people richer. I just want things to be better, I just want things to be fair and right. If you see something you love being hurt, you do everything you can to help. It’s quite simple. It’s totally natural. I might not be able to do much but I categorically refuse to do nothing. I refuse to stand by and watch as our world burns around us.”
Luke Watson, 36, a carpenter from London said:
“I’m glad of the verdict but feel the last two weeks have been a complete waste of public money and that a case involving £620 of damage should have been dealt with in the magistrates court.”
During the two week trial, the prosecution argued that people were left shocked, upset and angry at the action targeting the treasured monument, a 5,000 year old neolithic stone circle. The uniqueness of the monument was referenced frequently including by the Judge who at one point remarked “but this is a UNESCO world heritage site, not some oil painting”. The prosecution’s case was that the three had recklessly risked permanent damage to Stonehenge and a serious loss of amenity for the 15,000 people who might attend the Solstice celebrations the next day, as well as serious annoyance and distress for those who witnessed it in person or saw it on the news.
However, the court heard evidence that the orange powder consisted of cornstarch and food dye and that it was cleaned off the same day at a cost of £620, with no permanent damage caused to either the stones or the lichens. After spraying on and around the stones for no more than 30 seconds, the pair sat peacefully waiting for arrest. The Stonehenge site was not closed at any point as a result of the action and only one person, an employee of English Heritage who had intervened to try and stop them, provided evidence that the impact on them amounted to serious distress.
In giving evidence, each of the defendants spoke to the very grave crisis facing humanity and the need for a Fossil Fuel Treaty to phase out oil, gas and coal by 2030 and spoke of the care and detailed planning that had gone into the action. Explaining the rationale for nonviolent direct action, Rajan Naidu said “We’ve had lobbying, marches and demonstrations and we are still on a highway to hell”. The orange powder is used extensively in Hindu festivals, he explained, with people throwing handfuls of it over each other, “it is entirely non- toxic and non harmful,” he said. All expected the powder to be blown away by the strong winds on Salisbury Plain.
Naimh Lynch said: “You can’t love nature without being keenly aware of the damage we are doing.” as she spoke of her volunteer experience charting the decline of seabirds including puffins on an island off the coast of Ireland. “25 years ago the cliffs were filled with birds and now we are counting carcasses of pufflings” she said. In response to a question about whether she owned a petrol car she said “Yes individual actions are important but me driving an electric car will not save the world. The government is legally bound by Paris to do everything it can to reduce emissions and is not doing enough and yet I’m the one in court.”
Luke Watson explained that if we don’t stop fossil fuels, we face vast areas of the earth becoming uninhabitable, people will have to move or die. Food shortages, civil unrest and violence will follow. He had taken care and done research to ensure that the action would not cause permanent damage. He had ordered the colour blasters filled with the cornstarch from a commercial website and they were identical to ones that had been used on previous actions. He said that research indicated the Stonehenge stones were not porous so the powder could be blown off.
All three stated clearly that they would not have gone ahead with the action if they had believed that there was a risk of any permanent damage to the stones or the lichens and explained that it was not their intention to cause any serious harm to the public, but to create a spectacle to get media attention on the need for a fossil fuel treaty.
With little evidence to support the Crown’s case, in summing up, Simon Jones for the prosecution resorted to personal attacks – inviting the jury to conclude that the defendants were shambolic, hypocritical and even violent. He emphasised the risk of “serious annoyance” to the wider public who read about the action or saw it on the news, although no evidence had been presented to support this allegation.
Audrey Mogan, defence counsel for Naimh Lynch, questioned whether the defendants could reasonably be held responsible for how the media chose to portray their action. She said that women’s right to vote and to sit on juries was won through protest and that the right to peacefully protest is part of the law in this country. She reminded the jury that this was a peaceful protest as the Judge had directed, a peaceful protest about the climate crisis.
Francesca Cociani acting for Rajan Naidu explained that the law protects the right to communicate, even things that others find shocking or offensive and quoted Lord Justice Sedley, by saying that “Freedom only to speak inoffensively is not worth having” .
Responding to the prosecution speech Gerard Pitt, acting for Luke Watson said “he said this was a violation of history – what does that even mean? They have stood 5000 years.” He then went on to reference the origins of the right to trial by jury (enshrined in the Magna Carta and the famous Bushells case) and how it was entwined with the right to freedom of speech. He said “freedom of speech is not worth a dime if juries like you are not prepared to stand up and protect it.” as he urged the jury to find that the action represented acceptable free speech in a free society.
In 2024 Just Stop Oil successfully won its original demand of ‘no new oil and gas’ and on March 27th 2025 announced an end to the campaign of action. However, our supporters will continue to tell the truth in court, to speak out for our political prisoners and to help build what comes next.
ENDS
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Notes to Editors
[1] [1] Just Stop Oil is a member of the A22 Network of civil resistance projects.
April 26th 2025 was the last Just Stop Oil action, but our supporters will continue to tell the truth in the courts, speak out for our political prisoners, and call out the UK’s oppressive anti-protest laws.
Just Stop Oil continues to rely on small donations from the public to make this happen.
[2] Action press release https://juststopoil.org/2024/06/19/its-time-for-megalithic-action-just-stop-oil-decorate-stonehenge