00s main image Five of the so-called Kingsnorth 6 © Will Rose / Greenpeace inset mage 1 The Kingsnorth six - Huw Williams, Kevin Drake, Ben Stewart, Tim Hewke, Emily Hall and Will Rose outside Maidstone Crown Court after a jury found them not guilty of criminal damage charges for their action at Kingsnorth power station the previous year © Jiri Rezac / Greenpeace image 2 On Kingsnorth power station © Will Rose / Greenpeace image 3 Abseiling down Kingsnorth coal-fired power station © Will Rose / Greenpeace
Six Greenpeace UK volunteers are acquitted of criminal damage by a Crown Court jury in a case that centres on the contribution made to climate change by burning coal. The charges arose after the six attempted to shut down the Kingsnorth coal-fired power station in Kent in 2007 by scaling the chimney and painting the UK Prime Minister’s name down the side. The defendants pleaded ‘not guilty’ and relied in court on the defence of ‘lawful excuse’ - claiming they shut the power station in order to defend property of a greater value from the global impact of climate change. The landmark case marks the first victory of the ‘lawful excuse’ defence in a climatechange case in the UK. Plans to build the Kingsnorth coal power plant are shelved towards the end of the year.
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