Just Stop Oil protesters sentenced for aggravated trespass over Lord’s cricket ground stunt

Three climate change protesters who were found guilty of aggravated trespass after they ran on to the pitch during the Ashes series at Lord’s cricket ground have been sentenced.

The Just Stop Oil protest carried out by Judit Murray, 69, Daniel Knorr, 21, and Jacob Bourne, 27, stopped play during the match between England and Australia on 28 June, as security and ground staff cleaned up orange powder that was thrown on the pitch and ensured the ground was not damaged.

The three, who said they wanted to create headlines for their climate change protest and did not want to cause disruption or damage the pitch, were found guilty after a trial at City of London Magistrates’ Court.

England player Jonny Bairstow was seen carrying Knorr, of Green Street in Oxford, off the pitch, while champagne corks and fruit were thrown by fans at Bourne, of Moorland Road in Leeds, as he was led off the field. Murray, of Plough Road in West Ewell, Surrey, was tackled before she could reach the wicket and was held down on the grass.

Nick Rowe, security operations manager at Lord’s, said the protesters got “very close” to the wicket and play had to stop for a short period immediately after the incident.

He said he was near the Allen Stand at the ground in St John’s Wood, north-west London, when “an unexpected roar from the crowd, much louder than you would expect from a first over” alerted him to something wrong.

He previously told the court: “I heard a roar from the crowd. Obviously there were people on the pitch. There was a big cloud of orange powder in the air.”

Mr Rowe said he could see that play had stopped and the stewarding team ran towards the group of people who had been detained.

Nick Collins, the head of security at Lord’s, said the match was “probably the biggest game of our season”, adding that the protest had “[impacted] the rest of the day".

"The biggest worry for me is whether the ground has been damaged," he said. "Cricket has wide specifications and a set of rules about the pitch being played on.

"If the pitch had been damaged in some way, we could not have played."

Adeela Khan, defending Bourne and Knorr, said the disruption was “minimal” during the offence as there was a delay of four minutes and there was no damage to the pitch.

She said the offence was “carefully planned” in terms of timing to minimise the risk of harm to the defendants, players and security staff.

Katrina Walcott, defending Murray, said the defendants did not touch the wicket, were “quickly removed”, and clean-up lasted “a matter of seconds”.

She added: “She is very remorseful for the actions, she did apologise at the time.”

District Judge Neeta Minhas sentenced the trio at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday to a 12-month community order, 60 hours of unpaid work and also made an exclusion requirement from Lord’s cricket ground for 12 months.

Judge Minhas said: “Whilst you may not have intended harm and you say you co-ordinated action to minimise any harm, and I accept there was no harm in terms of damage to the pitch or from yourselves towards security officers or players, it’s such a public location where there were so many people who are very much enjoying the activity, who may have been drinking, your action will have an unknown effect on those in the stands.

“It also causes difficulty for security at that venue who have to control the crowd.

“It also takes security away from doing the job that they’re supposed to be doing, while they are detaining you and ensuring your safety from the crowd.

“I recollect evidence about items being thrown from the crowd which they then had to manage.”

The defendants will each also have to pay £330 in costs.

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