Four plead not guilty to criminal damage after protest at PM's house

They appeared at York Magistrates Court earlier today

Author: Kathy GreenPublished 21st Mar 2024
Last updated 21st Mar 2024

Four people have pleaded not guilty to criminal damage - after a protest at Rishi Sunak’s home in North Yorkshire.

The group have appeared at York Magistrates this afternoon.

Green peace activists climbed onto the roof of the prime ministers home in Kirkby Sigston near Northallerton last August and unfurled black drapes which completely covered one side of the building.

They were there for several hours before the police arrived.

The Prime Minister and his family were on holiday in the US at the time the protest took place.

A trial will take place later this year.

Commenting, Greenpeace UK Climate Campaigner, Mel Evans, said:

“This protest took place at Sunak’s house in his Yorkshire constituency, when it was widely reported in the national news that the PM and his family were abroad, holidaying in California.

“England has just experienced our wettest eighteen months on record, hundreds of UK homes and farms have been hit by floods and millions spent another winter in fuel poverty while the prime minister continues to support oil and gas expansion, fueling extreme weather and doing nothing to lower energy bills.

"The government can try to silence protest, but not the weather, and the damage and cost will keep racking up so long as we stick to the same self-destructive policies.”

First for all the latest news from across the UK every hour on Hits Radio on DAB, at hitsradio.co.uk and on the Rayo app.