The trial of two Just Stop Oil activists who sprayed orange paint on Heathrow Airport departure boards last summer has ended in a hung jury. The nine-day trial at Isleworth Crown Court concluded without a majority decision, and a retrial has been scheduled for May 2026.
The Incident
Phoebe Plummer and Jane Touil used fire extinguishers to spray water-based paint on the departure boards at Heathrow Airport on 30 July 2024. The act was part of the “Oil Kills” campaign, an international uprising demanding a fossil fuel treaty to end oil and gas by 2030. The Crown alleged that the incident caused £50,000 worth of damage.
Both activists were charged with criminal damage exceeding £5,000. During the trial, Judge Duncan ruled out the defence of necessity, stating it did not apply to civil disobedience actions and dismissed their “honestly held opinions” about climate change as irrelevant to the case.
Previous Sentences and Retrial
Phoebe Plummer is currently serving a two-year prison sentence for throwing soup on a Van Gogh painting in October 2022. Her sentence is under appeal, with a hearing scheduled for 29 January 2025. She was remanded for 58 days following the Heathrow incident, while Jane Touil was remanded for 14 days.
The retrial will commence in May 2026.
Defendants Speak Out
During the trial, both activists spoke passionately about the climate crisis. Jane Touil asserted:
“It is not accurate to say that I am acting on my beliefs. It [the climate crisis] is not ‘a cause’. This is physics, an objective reality. I can see that everything is at risk. We only do the right thing if we know what’s going on.”
Phoebe Plummer criticized the prosecution for dismissing the climate crisis as irrelevant:
“I have struggled with not being able to talk about the climate crisis—hearing it being called irrelevant feels inhumane and dishonest. I cannot be a bystander to suffering where I see it.”
Plummer compared her actions to a doctor breaking a rib during CPR, arguing that context always matters when assessing intent.
Court Challenges
The trial faced logistical issues when heating in the holding cells, contracted to private firm Serco, broke down. This prevented Plummer from attending court to make her closing speech. A Just Stop Oil supporter who observed the trial described it as a case of “mismanaged prosecution and logistical nightmares.”
Future Just Stop Oil Actions
Just Stop Oil announced plans for renewed activism in 2025, encouraging supporters to join their efforts. Information and sign-ups for future actions are available at juststopoil.org.
