Lisa McKenzie had been accused of helping fix sticker to window of apartment block with separate doors for private and social-housing tenants

A protester tried under joint enterprise for causing criminal damage, after a sticker was fixed on the window of an upmarket block of London flats during a demonstration against “poor doors”, has been found not guilty.

Lisa McKenzie, a research fellow at the London School of Economics, was accused of assisting an unknown person in putting the sticker on a newly built block of flats which has separate doors for private and social-housing tenants.

McKenzie was also charged with two offences under the Public Order Act, including intent to cause alarm and distress and causing alarm and distress, which were thrown out by the judge due to a lack of evidence.

“The judge said at the end of the day that he was extremely uncomfortable that I had been profiled,” McKenzie told the Guardian from a pub in east London where she was celebrating after winning her case at Stratford magistrates court.

“The police were asked how they knew it was me and how they knew my name, and they said that I had been profiled in the meetings earlier, and the judge said he was very, very uncomfortable with how I had been profiled.”

Cockney Rebel (@cockneyrebelx) Charges against @redrumlisa at Stratford magistrates court - thrown out! No more #endpoordoorsinLondon pic.twitter.com/L2aEnsZEOt

McKenzie had been arrested two weeks after taking part in a protest organised by the anarchist group Class War on 19 February outside One Commercial Street, a 21-storey block of flats at the junction of Commercial Street and Whitechapel High Street in east London.

Described by its developers, Redrow, as a flagship project that is “like a blade of light”, the building had been criticised after it emerged that residents living in an affordable housing section would only be able to gain entry through a segregated entrance.

The development had only been granted planning permission after it was agreed that it would include a section of affordable housing.

The Crown Prosecution Service alleged that during the demonstration a sticker was stuck to a window on the building which had caused criminal damage. While it accepted that there was no evidence to show that McKenzie had affixed the sticker herself, it claimed that she had helped a masked person to do so.

“They said it caused £50 worth of criminal damage because the window had to be cleaned,” McKenzie said. “My counsel argued that there was no damage at all. The £50 of damage was not actually done because the builders next door had pulled the sticker off.”



McKenzie was found not guilty of the criminal damage charge after the judge decided that there was no evidence against her, even under joint enterprise.

Under the doctrine of joint enterprise, a person may be found guilty for another person’s crime if it is judged that each shared a common purpose. It is more commonly used in serious cases involving gangs, violence and murder. However, its use is controversial and there are a number of cases where it is claimed that application of the doctrine has resulted in miscarriages of justice.

The Guardian contacted the CPS and the Metropolitan police for comment but had received no reply at the time of publication.



