Just Stop Oil protester drove to Stonehenge in grandmother’s car, court told

A Just Stop Oil activist accused of damaging Stonehenge borrowed his grandmother’s petrol car to drive to the monument, a court has heard.

Luke Watson, 36, is standing trial alongside Rajan Naidu, 74, and Niamh Lynch, 22, who are both accused of using fire extinguishers filled with cornflour, talc and an orange dye to spray the stones on June 19 last year.

The three defendants each deny charges of damaging an ancient protected monument and causing a public nuisance.

Salisbury Crown Court was told the trio targeted Stonehenge as part of an ongoing fossil fuel protest by the Just Stop Oil Group.

On Monday, the jury heard Watson borrowed the car from his grandmother to collect the colour blasters and drive his co-defendants to Salisbury on the morning of the incident.

Watson, who lived on a boat in the Tottenham area at the time, told the court he had no intention of permanently damaging the monument or causing serious distress for bystanders.

The incident happened the day before the summer solstice when about 15,000 people were due to gather and celebrate.

“I don’t think going to Stonehenge at solstice is about having a particular tinge on the stones,” Watson said.

“It’s more about going to a site that people have been going to for a long time, throughout history.

“I think you can go there and have a very good experience with an orange stone, blue stone, green stone.”

Watson told the court he became involved in activism while working on an organic farm, first joining the Extinction Rebellion group in 2019 before getting involved with Just Stop Oil.

The court previously heard Watson had driven from London to the Oxfordshire area in a Ford Fiesta and, later, all three defendants were seen arriving at Stonehenge on CCTV.

Naidu and Lynch, who were both wearing white Just Stop Oil T-shirts, were arrested and forensic examination of one of the colour blasters provided a DNA link to Watson, the court was told.

Simon Jones, prosecuting, told the court there were concerns that if the substance got wet it could become a paste and that there was a “pressing need” to clean the stones ahead of the solstice event.

The cost of cleaning the stones was £620, he added.

Naidu, of Gosford Street, Birmingham; Lynch, of Norfolk Road, Turvey, Bedford; and Watson, of The Street, Manuden, Essex; all deny charges of damaging an ancient protected monument and causing a public nuisance.

The trial continues.