Three Extinction Rebellion protesters who glued themselves to a DLR train have been found guilty 'with regret' by a jury - and the presiding judge praised the defendants' 'purest of motives'.

Cathy Eastburn, 52, Mark Ovland, 36, and Luke Watson, 30, were convicted at Inner London Crown Court after halting Docklands Light Railway services at Canary Wharf station on April 17.

The trio denied the charges of obstructing a railway, claiming the stunt was justified because of the threat of climate change.

Watson, of Essex, and Eastburn, of Lambeth, both climbed on top of the train carriage and glued their hands to the roof, while Ovland, of Keinton Mandeville, Somerset, glued his hands to the side.

XR defendents Luke Watson,Cathy Eastburn and Mark Ovland outside Inner London Crown Court

The trio had claimed their actions were justified due to the threat posed by climate change

After one hour of deliberations, the jury unanimously found the defendants guilty on Wednesday, but the foreman added it was 'with regret'.

Judge Silas Reid told the jury: ‘What a very peculiar case, it is not like many cases of the crown court, because usually defendants do not come here in such noble cause.

‘It seems to me that all of you gave the verdict with a heavy heart.

‘I hope you realise how important it is that we have a system that works for everyone.

‘They came for the purest of motives and they wanted to minimise the disruption they caused.

‘The reason why the law requires people who do this to be put through the criminal courts is because other people with less pure intentions would be able hang onto their coat tails.

‘This is not a case of someone who is drunk and gets up on top of a train, in which they would be dealing with a prison sentence.

Police remove Mark Ovland, who had glued himself to a window of a DLR train at Canary wharf station on the third day of an environmental protest by the Extinction Rebellion group

Police attended the scene at the east London station in April. Giving evidence the trio insisted they were trying to save the planet

The activists targeted a Docklands Light Railway train at Canary Wharf station in April

‘I cannot see any possibility of any of these defendants going to prison.’

Judge Silas Reid: Gave community service to insurance broker who shattered woman’s jaw Pictured: Judge Silas James Reid Silas James Reid was called to Bar in 1995, appointed as a Recorder in 2012 and as a Fee-paid Judge of the First-tier Tribunal, Health, Education and Social Care Chamber in 2018. Last year he presided over a case of an insurance broker who fractured a female friend's jaw in three places. Steven Herbert, 56, was out drinking with his daughter when he joined friends Donna West and Lloyd Cross at Caffe Vergnano near Fenchurch Street. Father of three Herbert suspected Mr Cross of flirting with his daughter and demanded Mr Cross hand over his phone. When he refused Herbert smacked him across the face, Inner London Crown Court heard. Mr Cross collapsed and Ms West sprinted over only for Herbert, her friend of more than 20 years, to punch her once, fracturing her jaw, on October 25 last year. Herbert admitted inflicting grievous bodily harm and assault by beating at Inner London Crown Court. Judge Silas Reid handed him a 12-month community order with 135 hours unpaid work and a three month electronic tag between 8:30pm and 5am. He was ordered to pay Ms West compensation of £2,000 and pay prosecution costs £2,000 along with a victim surcharge of £85. In September 2018 a thug who battered a woman with a bicycle lock leaving her with permanent facial scarring was spared jail and ordered to pay her just £115 in compensation. Angelo Ornelas, 34, confronted Susan Nottage as she walked through Kennington Park in south London with her boyfriend on September 13, 2016. Ornelas struck Ms Nottage in the face with a bicycle D lock to leave her scarred for life, Inner London Crown Court heard. Ornelas, of Vauxhall, admitted assault occasioning actual bodily harm. Judge Silas Reid sentenced Ornelas to five months imprisonment - suspended for 12 months and ordered to pay £115 in compensation to Ms Nottage. Advertisement

The protesters emphasised that despite holding up their train for over an hour, after about ten minutes trains began to run as usual through the station.

They also pointed out that there was very little cost to the protest as TFL had waived the cost of the delay to the operator of the DLR railway.

The judge had told the court: ‘I have concluded that whatever the honest apprehension of danger to the community, and however imminent that danger, the law does not afford a defence of necessity to illegal actions undertaken to publicise the danger and to change people’s minds or Government policy.

‘To do so would run clearly against public policy.

‘Effectively the law indicates that objectively criminal actions taken for those purposes are not and cannot be reasonable and proportionate.

‘Even if all other means, i.e. resorting to law, lobbying Parliament, lobbying the Government, going to the media, demonstrating and any other, have been exhausted this does not permit criminal activity by way of obstructing the railway.’

Referring to a landmark ruling in the House of Lords about civil disobedience the judge added: ‘The law does not tolerate vigilantes.

‘If the citizen cannot get the courts to order the law enforcement authorities to act then he must use democratic methods to persuade the government or legislature to intervene.

‘If the citizen is dissatisfied with the law as laid down by the courts he must campaign for Parliament to change it.’

Giving evidence the trio insisted they were trying to save the planet.

Watson said he believed carrying out the protest was 'the best and only way to bring about action from the government to prevent the worst of disasters that we expect from climate change'.

Mother-of-two Eastburn said: ‘I knew I had to help sound the alarm, to help us wake up to what is happening and wake up the government..'

She added: ‘It felt like I was sounding an alarm and trying to wake people up to the fact that our planet is literally on fire.'

The trio were allowed to sit next to the prosecutor after dismissing their lawyers following the judge’s ruling on their necessity defence.

Judge Reid granted the three XR protesters bail ahead of sentence tomorrow, adding: ‘Can I take it that none of you will be so stupid so as to commit any offences before tomorrow?’



Extinction Rebellion (XR), an activist group whose protesters are urging government action on climate change, claims the trial was the first to be dealt with by a crown court as opposed to a magistrates' Court.

The trio were released on unconditional bail and will be sentenced by Judge Silas Reid at the same court on Thursday.

They were arrested during two weeks of demonstrations organised by XR which brought parts of London to a standstill.