Stroud Extinction Rebellion co-founder accused of smashing £27.5k window during protest

An Extinction Rebellion co-founder will appear in court next year accused of causing thousands of pounds of damage to a government building.

Gail Bradbrook, from Stroud, Gloucestershire, is said to have smashed a plate-glass window worth £27,500 at the Department for Transport office in Westminster during a protest on 15 October 2019.

The 50-year-old's trial has been moved a number of times pending a decision from the Court of Appeal over whether protestors can rely on a human rights defence when accused of criminal damage.

As attorney general, Suella Braverman referred to the court the case of the so-called Colston four, who were acquitted in January for toppling a bronze statue of the 17th-century merchant Edward Colston in Bristol.

Part of their defence relied on convincing the jury a conviction would be a disproportionate interference with the defendants’ rights to protest under the European Convention on Human Rights.

In a ruling handed down in September, the Lord Chief Justice Lord Burnett, Mr Justice Holgate and Mr Justice Saini said the Colston protest fell outside the protection of the convention because it was violent and led to significant damage.

On Tuesday, at Isleworth Crown Court, where Bradbrook is due to be tried, Judge Martin Edmunds KC set a trial date of 17 July because the “legal landscape has now settled”.

Two days have also been set before the trial, May 18 and 19, for legal arguments to be heard so Bradbrook, who will represent herself, will know what defences she can rely on.

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