Just Stop Oil activists found guilty of World Snooker Championship protest

A Just Stop Oil activist who jumped on a table during the World Snooker Championships and covered it in orange powder told a judge his actions were “reasonable and proportionate in light of the larger threat we face from the crisis climate”. Home energy adviser Eddie Whittingham, 26, was found guilty at Sheffield Magistrates’ Court on Friday of causing criminal damage after a one-day trial.

His fellow protester, former museum worker Margaret Reid, 53, was found guilty of attempting to cause criminal damage. A district judge was shown TV footage of Whittingham interrupting a match between Robert Milkins and Joe Perry on 17 April 2023 at Sheffield’s Crucible Theatre.

Wearing a Just Stop Oil T-shirt, the defendant could be seen releasing the orange substance – which he told the court was dyed cornstarch powder – and kneeling in the middle of the balls on the table before being pulled away by security. The clip shown to the court went on to show Reid attempting to do the same on the other table, on the other side of the theater barrier, but she is tackled by referee Olivier Marteel before she can reach the table.

Whittingham denied causing £899.90 worth of damage to a snooker table, owned by Xingpai, and Reid denied attempting to cause criminal damage. But both were found guilty of the offenses by District Judge Daniel Curtis on Friday afternoon. They will be sentenced later.

Giving evidence on Friday, Whittingham told the court he bought a ticket about a month before the incident, agreeing it cost him more than £300 because he wanted to be in a good position in the hall. He said he planned the protest to draw attention to Just Stop Oil’s campaign to change the Government’s policy on oil and gas extraction, which he told the court was “breaking the law”.

Whittingham said: “I did not intend to cause damage, I intended to cause disruption.”

He said “I accept there is a risk that damage could occur”, adding that he thought it was “very possible that (the dust) could be wiped or vacuumed up without causing significant damage to the soft or table. “

Pressed by Alison Goldsmith, prosecuting, whether he had foreseen the risk of damage to the table, Whittingham said: “I found the risk to be proportionate in light of the existential threat we face from the climate crisis.”

He agreed that his actions caused inconvenience to those who attended for “peaceful fun” and to tournament organizers who had to abandon play for the day on the table he targeted. But the defendant told the district judge: “I think it is reasonable and proportionate in light of the greater threat we face from the climate crisis.”

He told the court he minimized the disruption caused by not attaching himself to the table and respected security and police once he left the table. Giving evidence, Reid cited her long experience as a conservator in the museum sector, saying she believed any dust could have been easily removed without causing damage.

She described it as an “unpleasant and scary thing to do” but said she was driven to an “outrageous and disturbing act like this”. Reid said he had “no other effective options” available to stop the “pain, death and misery” that climate change would bring.

“We have to shake ourselves out of our stupor,” she said. “We need a shock. We need an action like the one we took to get us off the grid.”

Reid said, “What can ordinary, powerless people do?”

She said she had protested “politely” in the past, voted and written to her MP but it “didn’t work”. “There’s no time to take it slow and get away,” she said.

“I did not intend to cause criminal damage. I set out to draw attention to the dire situation we find ourselves in.”

Asked about the impact of his actions on people who had paid to watch a snooker match, the defendant said: “I’m very sorry about that, but I was really aware that these individuals would be much worse affected by the impact of fossil fuels.”

Whittingham, of May Street, Exeter, and Reid, of Low Fellside, Kendal, Cumbria, were granted unconditional bail and will be sentenced at Sheffield Magistrates’ Court on July 10.