A notorious Just Stop Oil activist is finally in prison after being arrested for a protest at Heathrow Airport while awaiting sentencing for throwing soup over a painting.
Phoebe Plummer, 22, was sent to HMP Bronzefield, a women’s prison near Ashford in Surrey, following an appearance at Westminster Magistrates’ Court yesterday.
She had been arrested on Tuesday on suspicion of criminal damage after spraying paint on departure boards at Heathrow along with fellow activist Jane Touil, 58.
Plummer and Touil were both remanded into custody over the Heathrow incident until August 28, to appear at Isleworth Crown Court for a case management hearing.
It comes after Plummer and another activist, Anna Holland, also 22, were warned last Thursday to prepare for jail after being found guilty of criminal damage at Southwark Crown Court over a separate incident at London‘s National Gallery in October 2022.
The duo threw tinned soup over Vincent van Gogh’s Sunflowers, with prosecutors claiming they caused as much as £10,000 worth of damage to the artwork’s frame.
Phoebe Plummer (left), 22, and Jane Touil (right), 58, were remanded into custody after spraying orange paint on passenger information screens at Heathrow Airport on Tuesday
Phoebe Plummer is arrested on suspicion of criminal damage at Heathrow Airport on Tuesday
Police officers remove Phoebe Plummer after arresting her at Heathrow Airport on Tuesday
The judge in that case said Plummer and Holland would be released on bail until they are sentenced on September 27 in Southwark, but warned them to come to the court ‘prepared in practical and emotional terms to go to prison on that date’.
As for the Heathrow protest on Tuesday, Plummer and Touil allegedly caused £50,000 worth of damage when they sprayed orange paint from large cylinders on departure boards, floors and glass walls inside the airport’s Terminal Five.
Just Stop Oil claimed in a press release that during yesterday’s court hearing in Westminster, Plummer told the judge: ‘Sending peaceful protestors like me to prison isn’t going to prevent us from resisting.
‘You’re upholding an abysmal system. And you’re doing that to maintain business as usual. You won’t be protected from the climate emergency.’
Speaking before the hearing, Touil was quoted by the group as saying: ‘I have become increasingly terrified about climate breakdown and increasingly appalled by politicians’ failure to take appropriate action.
Phoebe Plummer (left) and Anna Holland (right), were found guilty last Thursday of criminal damage at Southwark Crown Court over a separate incident at London’s National Gallery in October 2022, when the duo threw tinned soup over Vincent van Gogh’s Sunflowers (above)
Prosecutors claimed they caused as much as £10,000 worth of damage to the artwork’s frame
Plummer were warned to be ‘prepared in practical and emotional terms to go to prison’ when they are sentenced in September for the demonstration at the National Gallery in 2022
‘Convinced that the most effective thing I could do as an ordinary person was to take direct action to highlight the catastrophic situation we’re in, I became a Just Stop Oil supporter.’
Touil said she was arrested for the first time in April 2022 and had been detained ‘several times since’ – including one incident in November 2022 that saw her spend time on remand in prison after climbing an M25 gantry.
But she added: ‘I will continue to act on my conscience to protect life and to challenge the greed, corruption and cowardice that are killing people right now. I refuse to die for fossil fuels.’
A video issued by Just Stop Oil on Tuesday showed Plummer and Touil carry out the protest near check-in desks for at least three minutes and 55 seconds without being approached by police officers or airport staff.
In the footage, one member of the public is heard exclaiming: ‘Oh my goodness, what is this?’
Phoebe Plummer (pictured in March 2024) is regularly seen at Just Stop Oil demonstrations
Phoebe Plummer is a 22-year-old Just Stop Oil activist who is now being held in prison
Plummer studied social anthropology at London’s School of Oriental and African Studies
The Metropolitan Police said the pair were arrested on suspicion of criminal damage, adding that officers remained in the area to ‘deal with any further offences’.
Last Thursday, a judge told Plummer and Holland that they could be jailed after they ‘came within the width of a pane of glass of destroying one of the most valuable artworks in the world’ by pouring soup over the van Gogh painting.
The duo were found guilty of criminal damage by a jury after three hours of deliberations at Southwark Crown Court.
After the verdicts were read out, Judge Christopher Hehir – who the week before jailed the co-founder of Just Stop Oil and Extinction Rebellion for five years at the same court – told the activists that staff at the gallery had ‘frantically’ inspected the painting for damage after the incident.
‘They were worried the soup may have dripped through by condensation,’ he said.
Phoebe Plummer was sent to HMP Bronzefield which is a women’s prison in Ashford, Surrey
HMP Bronzefield is a privately run female prison in Surrey which is managed by Sodexo
Inside one of the prison cells at HMP Bronzefield in Surrey where Plummer is now being held
Prosecutors believe the soup may have caused £10,000 worth of damage to the artwork’s precious frame, he added.
The protesters, wearing Just Stop Oil T-shirts, threw two tins of Heinz tomato soup over the 1888 work in October 2022, before kneeling down in front of the painting and glueing their hands to the wall beneath it.
Tomato soup covered the image, which is covered by glass, as well as parts of the gold-coloured frame. Visitors were escorted out by security, who then shut the doors to the room where the painting hangs.
A number of Just Stop Oil supporters were present in the court room as the verdict was delivered. A lawyer for Holland said they would consider whether to appeal.
The offence of criminal damage can be punished with a maximum sentence of 10 years’ imprisonment.
In a separate protest, Just Stop Oil activists blocked an area at Heathrow Terminal Five today
In another protest on Monday, Just Stop Oil protesters were arrested at Gatwick Airport
The women’s bail conditions stipulate that they must not carry glue, paint or any adhesive substance in a public place, and must not visit any galleries or museums.
Plummer was privately educated at St Mary’s Ascot boarding school in Berkshire before studying social anthropology at London’s School of Oriental and African Studies.
She grew up in her parents’ £2.85million Chelsea townhouse but according to court hearings now resides at a house in Lambeth.
In another Just Stop Oil protest today, seven activists were arrested on suspicion of public order offences after blocking the passenger search area at Heathrow’s Terminal 5.
The protesters, who tried to disrupt access to the departure gates inside the airport at just before 9am this morning, were seen holding signs reading: ‘Oil Kills’ and: ‘Sign the Treaty’.
Both the Metropolitan Police and Heathrow said minimal disruption was caused, and it is understood the demonstrators were removed within 20 minutes.
Passengers continued to access security lanes either side of where the group sat.
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