In April 2021, I was one of six Extinction Rebellion protesters acquitted of criminal damage to Shell’s London HQ. Two years earlier, we poured fake oil onto the steps and walls of the oil major’s building in Waterloo, broke windows and painted messages that said: “Shell Knew”, “Shell Lies” and “Shell Kills”. Then we waited for police to come and arrest us. The story of how we persuaded a jury to find us not guilty, in defiance of the judge and the law, has now been dramatized for Radio 4.
We weren’t surprised that our case ended up in the Crown Court in front of a jury, rather than in the magistrates’ court before a judge or lay panel. We planned it that way. We knew that if we caused more than five thousand pounds worth of damage we would have the opportunity to put our case to 12 random Londoners.
