Gail Bradbrook, one of the Co-Founders of Extinction Rebellion (XR), has been unanimously convicted of causing £27,500 worth of damage during a protest in 2019.

The criminal damage occurred at the Department for Transport (DfT), and the verdict comes after a four-year legal process concerning the circumstances of the protest.

During the three-day trial, there were disputes over what information Bradbrook could present to jurors, leading to warnings from the judge about potential anti-jury tampering powers.

The protest in question took place in 2019 during two XR mass demonstrations in London, which resulted in numerous arrests and substantial policing expenses.

In October of that year, Gail Bradbrook climbed onto the entrance canopy of the DfT’s headquarters and used tools to break a reinforced security glass pane.

The cost of replacing this specialised glass was £27,500 due to its compliance with specific security standards and the need for a swift replacement.

Bradbrook stated that her choice to target the DfT was based on her concerns about the environmental impact of the HS2 project.

During her police interview, Ms Bradbrook asserted that her actions were motivated by a desire to prevent “crimes against humanity” and that she believed she had “permission from nature” to break the window.

Ms Bradbrook’s sentencing is scheduled for next month,

Speaking after the verdict, Dr Bradbrook said: “I’m at peace with the verdict. The judge gave the jury no choice by directing them that even if I did what I did to protect my own children, that was no defence in law.

“What does it tell us that there is no accountability for those causing damage on a national and planetary scale, the oil bosses and financiers, and those responsible for the billion pound fraud on the British public that is HS2, but that a mother taking action to protect her children, according to the scientific evidence, is treated as a criminal? Trust in a system that reaches such inhuman conclusions can’t last.”

Article source: https://www.energylivenews.com/2023/11/01/xr-founder-convicted-of-275k-damage-in-protest/