Protesters who hurled faux blood over Queen Victoria memorial responsible

Five Animal Rebellion activists who hurled fake blood over the Queen Victoria Memorial outside Buckingham Palace have been convicted of criminal damage. 

Christopher Bennett, 33, Riley Ings, 27, Louis McKechnie, 23, Claire Smith, 26 and Rachel Steele, 48, defaced the white marble statue in a protest against hunting on August 26, 2021.

The protesters threw red liquid over the memorial and let off flares, Southwark Crown Court heard.

The prosecution said the dye not only turned the water red, but stained the stonework of the fountain as well. 

CCTV footage also showed a number of the protesters dyeing their hands red and then leaving prints on the stonework of the fountain. 

The five activists from Animal Rebellion, an offshoot of Extinction Rebellion, denied the charges but were convicted by the jury of causing £7,080 worth of damage to the memorial.    

Judge Gregory Perrins bailed them ahead of sentencing October 18.

Ailsa McKeon, prosecuting, said: ‘Within a short time, both the water and the stone work had been stained.

‘All five defendants were arrested and several red bottles were found.

‘Some matters in this case are not in dispute, it is understood the defendants do not deny they were present, what is disputed is whether they actually caused damage.

‘These defendants are not being prosecuted for having expressed these opinions but what they are being prosecuted for is causing thousands of pounds worth of damage.’

Statues and fountains event team leader Luke Cooper said in a statement read to the court: ‘Upon investigation we established that the substance had soaked deep into the marble.’

‘The entire system needed to be fully drained and cleaned.’

Mr Cooper said a ‘steam system’ was needed to get rid of the red dye.

‘The dye had soaked deep into the marble we were unable to remove it immediately,’ he added.

Giving evidence Ings said: ‘The general atmosphere of the climate crisis. The science is pretty clear on the consequences of allowing us to continue like this.

‘The reason is because the Crown was trying to make itself exempt from climate carbon emissions targets. They were trying to relinquish responsibility to make those changes.’

Ings said they had wanted to create ‘bloody handprints’ on the fountain.

‘It was part of the protest to create the visual effect of bloody handprints on the side of the fountain.’

Giving evidence McKechnie also told the court: ‘I attended the protest because I believe that the royal family has blood on their hands.

‘What mattered most to me was the metaphorical meaning. Primarily the fact that in central London one third of children live in food poverty, yet the royals are the biggest landowners in the country.

‘Food poverty is going to get worse. How many are going to die? How many are going to starve? How many of the royals will?’

‘I understood the dye to be non-toxic, non-harmful. I could drink it if I wanted to. It was designed to be non-harmful. If it was going to damage a living thing then that group is not going to want any part in it.’

McKechnie said that the water in the fountain was ‘filthy’, adding: ‘It looks like most of the time it is not very well kept.’

The 23-year-old said after the conviction today: ‘The result in court today wasn’t ideal, but it was expected. The justice system in this country isn’t actually organised around actual justice, it’s organised around continuation of the status quo. 

‘It’s insane to me that three years have passed since the protest and in that time we’ve had 40 degree heatwaves but no discernable action from our government. 

‘We have no choice but to keep going until we get a plant-based food system, anything else would be a betrayal of our generations and the generations to come.’

Steele said the aim of the protest was ‘a simple, dramatic looking visual to get attention for the reasons that we have been talking about – the fact that the royal family is trying to navigate carbon emissions targets and to get media attention.’

‘How long did you think the water would stay red?’, asked Laura Stockdale, defending.

Steele replied: ‘A week, max. Bright red for a day. and then it would gradually fade.’

She said she knew the dye was not harmful.

‘We are a loving, vegan activist group. If dye exists, why would this group use something that wasn’t?’

She claimed she had not read a label on the dye warning not to allow the substance to come into contact with stone.

‘I was only going to put it in the water. I wasn’t researching its effect on stone.’

McKechnie was jailed for six weeks for aggravated trespass in September 2022 after he tied himself to a goalpost at Everton’s Goodison Park stadium during a Just Stop Oil protest.

He had entered the pitch at the Gwladys Street end of the ground at the beginning of the second half in the match against Newcastle United.

McKechnie was also jailed for three weeks in November 2022 for gluing himself to the frame of a £70m Van Gogh painting in the London’s Courtauld Gallery.

Days after that JSO protest on June 30, 2022, McKechnie, with four other eco-zealots disrupted the 2022 British Grand Prix at Silverstone.

They denied but were found guilty of causing a public nuisance risking ‘serious harm’ to drivers and race marshals during the track invasion.

McKechnie and the four other activists in that case have since challenged the conviction in the Court of Appeal and await the ruling.