Two environmental activists have been convicted of charges relating to a protest against HS2 after occupying a 100ft-high drilling rig to highlight damage they claimed the rail project was causing to London’s drinking water supply.
James Brown, 57, a partially sighted former Paralympics cycling champion, and James Ruggles, 25, appeared at Uxbridge magistrates court charged with criminal damage and aggravated trespass after a protest in February 2020 when they climbed on to drilling machinery in the Colne Valley, Hillingdon.