Five Just Stop Oil activists who glued themselves to the frame of a copy of Leonardo Da Vinci's 'The Last Supper' have been fined just £175 each.
Simon Bramwell, 50, Caspar Hughes, 51, Jessica Agar, 22, Lucy Porter, 47 and Tristan Strange, 40, sprayed 'No New Oil' under the £3m painting at the Royal Academy on July 5 last year.
The activists are members of the climate group 'Just Stop Oil' who are campaigning to stop the government's purchase of new oil and gas licences.
As well at the 175 fine, they must also each pay £275 in costs and £36 in compensation.
District Judge William Nelson told the court: "Five defendants in this case are charged with criminal damage.
"The basic facts of the matter are on Tuesday 5 July 2022 at about 11am the five entered the Royal Academy and made their way to the first-floor gallery where there is in that collection a painting of the 'Last Supper'.
"After a period of time Mr Hughes took a spray can from his bag and sprayed onto the wall 'no new oil' and then all five defendants put glue on their hands and glued themselves to the painting.
"Ms Porter's hand became detached from their own accord and the others in the room had their hands de-bonded from the de-bonding team.
"The prosecution's case is they intentionally or recklessly caused damage to that frame the wall and sofa on which glue was found.
"The defence case was framed in two ways. Firstly, that they did not intend nor were reckless of [causing damage to the frame or wall] and no damage was caused to the sofa and they were not the causes of the damage to the sofa.
"The damage caused to the wall, frame and sofa was temporary and they say it was a non-violent protest meaning the court must consider proportionality.
"I am not satisfied so I'm sure that [none] of these defendants caused damage to the sofa, the evidence points to the contrary.
CCTV shows these defendants were far away from the sofa
''The inference I'm asked to draw... is that the only people with glue in the room were the five defendants and so it must have been one of them.
"In fact, the de-bonding team used that sofa to park their equipment.. it's for the Crown to prove so I am sure it was one of these defendants or all defendants that caused this damage and they haven't been able to do so in these circumstances.
"None of the defendants are guilty of damage of the sofa.
"As far as the frame is concerned all five defendants accept, they placed glued on their hands and glued themselves to the wall...
"Mr Hughes accept he is the person who painted the slogan on the wall, but all the defendants knew this was what he was going to do, and they all acted as an accessory to the plan and the encouragement of the activity...and recognised the application of the paint was a sign of their start the protest.
"Therefore, they are all responsible for that damage.
"The next question is did they intend to cause that damage? In my judgment no, they didn't intend to cause damage.
"All defendants gave very clear evidence that the primary purpose of their endeavour was to attract the attention of major media outputs to give the widest audience their message.
'They did not intend that their actions or the primary cause of their actions would be damage. Damage occurred in the course of their action, but it was not their intentions.
"It is clear to me that in the minds of each five defendants they had intended it does not cause any damage to the actual painting and they had gone to great length not to do so.
"They made previous visits to the venue, experiment with glue themselves and made sure they applied their hands as far away from the painting.
"As far as the frame was concerned there was a risk of damage, but it would be minor.
"Each defendant was well aware of the risk of damage that their actions would cause.
"Each defendant knew they would cause damage to the frame and they gave clear evidence about this.
"I find each defendant in connection to damage of paint and frame was reckless in whether damage would occur to the wall and the frame.
"In all the circumstances I find the five defendants guilty of damaging the wall and frame and there is no need for me to set out a proportionality exercise."
The Royal Academy copy - which is attributed to Giampietrino and Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio - is believed to be the most accurate record of the original and was painted in around 1515-20.
The oil on canvas painting is about 3020mm x 7850mm, which makes it slightly smaller than the original.
Bramwell, of Twyford, Berks, Hughes, of Exeter, Devon, Agar, of Hereford, Porter, of Worcester and Strange, of Swindon, all denied one count of criminal damage.
During the summer Just Stop Oil activists attached themselves to a 19th-century landscape by Horatio McCulloch called My Heart's In The Highlands which hangs in Glasgow's Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum.
They also glued themselves to Vincent Van Gogh's 1889 work Peach Trees in Blossom at The Courtauld gallery in London.
