Three climate change protesters have been found guilty of aggravated trespass after they ran on to the pitch during the men’s Ashes Test at Lord’s.
The Just Stop Oil protest carried out by Judit Murray, 69, Daniel Knorr, 21, and Jacob Bourne, 27, stopped play during the first morning of the match between England and Australia on June 28 as security and ground staff cleaned up an orange powder that was thrown on the pitch and ensured the ground was not damaged.
The trio, 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 the City of London Magistrates’ Court.
England player Jonny Bairstow carried Knorr off the pitch, while champagne corks and fruit were thrown by cricket fans at Bourne as he was led off the field and Murray was tackled before she could reach the wicket and held down on the grass.
District judge Neeta Minhas said she was satisfied the trio had breached the well-publicised rules which state that ticket-holders cannot trespass, go on to the field of play or stage demonstrations.
She said: “From my own common sense perspective, as soon as you have gone over the barrier you have gone beyond the area of the ticket you have been given.”
Murray, of Plough Road, West Ewell, Surrey; Knorr, of Green Street, Oxford; and Bourne, of Moorland Road, Hyde Park, Leeds, were conditionally bailed ahead of being sentenced at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on October 24.
The judge, who said “the aim was to cause disruption to the game”, added: “I am satisfied the three of them proactively did trespass on private property which was a playing field, that you disrupted or intended to disrupt a legal activity.
“The defences put forward on your behalf have not been successful. I find you all guilty of aggravated trespass.”
The court heard there is a 3ft high, metallic fence in front of the grandstand at Lord’s, followed by a gap and 3ft high LED hoardings which loop around the ground and then a boundary rope which all serve as “markers” – along with many signs and loudspeaker messages which warn ticket-holders they are not allowed to go on to the field of play.
A security guard tackles one of the Just Stop Oil protesters at Lord’s
Nick Rowe, the 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 that something was wrong.
He 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.
He told the court one of the men was detained on the ground before being taken away, while another was carried off the grass by Bairstow.
Mr Rowe added: “When I had taken the gentleman from the pitch, my main concern really was for his safety.
“The crowd were really ‘anti’ – there was a couple of champagne corks thrown at him and a bit of fruit.”
Mr Rowe stated that “everything that is green is considered as the playing area”.
Pitch supervisor Fawad Mujahid said he saw a woman and two men run on to the ground and orange powder on the field as “multiple” colleagues rushed to the scene.
He told the court one man was “held back by Jonny Bairstow” and the cricketer “literally carried that person” in the direction of the grandstand.
Mr Mujahid said he saw a second person, who was on the ground, and the female protester was detained elsewhere on the grass.
Nick Collins, the head of security at Lord’s – who said the match was “probably the biggest game of our season”, added: “It impacts the rest of the day. The biggest worry for me is whether the ground has been damaged.
“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.
“We had to check. We had blowers come on. Everyone was trying to blow the powder away and check the ground was not affected.”
He added: “The crowd became very agitated and angry. We had a big amount of booing. We are not football. We do not usually get a big amount of obscenity thrown around.”
Protester Daniel Knorr was carried off the field by England wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow at Lord’s
In giving evidence, Knorr described how he ran in a straight line “heart-racing” on to the pitch and then tried to have a chat with Bairstow as the player carried him away.
He told the court: “It was not a surprise that I was intercepted. It was a bit of a surprise that it was one of the cricket players.
“It was Jonny Bairstow. I tried to have a conversation with him but he was not interested.”
He said his aim was to get headlines and the protest scored front pages on several broadsheet newspapers the following day.
He added: “Lord’s is known as the home of cricket and the Ashes are one of, if not the most famous, contests – so it was going to have a national and international audience. The potential was going to be massive.”