Four eco-activists who climbed on to the roof of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s home in a Greenpeace protest have denied criminal damage.
Mathieu Soete, 38, Amy Rugg-Easey, 33, Alexandra Wilson, 32, and Michael Grant, 64, have been charged with damaging roof tiles during the incident on August 3 last year.
At York magistrates court on Thursday, all four defendants pleaded not guilty to the charge, with a trial set for July.
The court heard the activists intend to dispute whether there was any damage to the roof tiles and argue that there was no intention to damage the home, in Mr Sunak’s constituency in Richmond, North Yorkshire.
They are also hoping to argue in their defence that they had a “lawful excuse” for the demonstration, and a criminal conviction would be a “disproportionate interference” with their human rights to freedom of assembly and freedom of expression.
However, the CPS is planning to ask the court to block that final defence, saying it has been banned in these types of cases following a ruling in the Court of Appeal.
The court also heard that there is video footage of the protest at the house in Kirby Sigston which is shared by Mr Sunak, his wife Akshaka Murty, and their children.
They were on holiday in the US at the time of the Greenpeace protest.
The property manager is due to give evidence in the trial, as well as two people involved in repairing the alleged damage.
Soete, from Hackney who told the court he is of no fixed address, appeared in court via videolink.
He, together with Rugg-Easey and Wilson, from Shiremoor, North Tyneside, and Grant, of Rosewell, Midlothian, were all set free on bail until the two-day trial starting on July 23.
