RBS demands £40,000 damages from unemployed teenage girl who smashed bank window during G20 protest



Royal Bank of Scotland tried yesterday to recoup the entire cost of damages it suffered during the G20 protests from an unemployed teenage girl.

The bank, which is now two thirds state owned after receiving billions in Government bail outs, asked a court to recover the £40,000 of damage to its Threadneedle Street branch from the 17-year-old protester.

The girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was caught redhanded smashing computer equipment.

Attack: A demonstrator takes out a window of the Royal Bank of Scotland branch in the City during the G20 protests



She admitted following friends into the branch after its windows were smashed and joining them as they damaged property during demonstrations on April 1.

Ann Crighton, prosecuting, told West London Youth Court yesterday that the bank wanted to recover its losses from the teenage environmental activist.



Mrs Crighton said: 'She was found smashing one of the computers in the main foyer of the bank.

'She thought it would be a good idea to go into the foyer. When she got inside she thought it would be a better idea to smash up the computer.

'She said she changed her mind and tried to throw the computer through the window instead.

'She was seen picking up a keyboard and smashing a window.'

But Miranda Ching, defending, said the Scottish-born teenager, who lives in Brighton, is unemployed, does not claim benefits and lives on handouts from friends and family.

She said: 'RBS has gone for compensation in the sum of £40,000. In my view, this is wholly unjustified.

'It may well be that a substantial amount of criminal damage was caused as a whole by other people on April 1. We must look at what my client is charged with and that is IT equipment.

'That seems to be, at most, one computer keyboard and one computer monitor.'

Damage: A computer monitor is thrown at the building

Miss Ching said her client was introduced to political activism by her stepfather, who took her to protests on environmental and nuclear issues from an early age.

At an earlier hearing, the court heard that the teenager drank up to four cans of strong lager before joining the demonstration wearing a mask.

Magistrates were told she had lived an itinerant lifestyle, living at a series of environmental protest sites around Britain.

These included a long-established roads demonstration in Edinburgh and, more recently, a protest against a supermarket development on the outskirts of London.

The teenager was sentenced to an eight-month referral order which may include a smaller sum of compensation, a letter of apology and an agreement not to commit further crimes.