EXTINCTION Rebellion campaigner Paul Sheeky appeared before Warrington magistrates today accused of criminal damage after a graffiti attack on the office of Warrington South MP Andy Carter.
Sheeky, who will now have a criminal record for his actions, admitted the offence but stood by his actions in a witness statement he read out in court.
He was given a conditional discharge and ordered to pay £107 court costs.
In a Criminal Damage Mitigation Statement Sheeky said:” On March 13th 2021 I wrote the words Covid Failure, Climate Failure on the office of my Conservative MP, Andrew Carter, a member of the current UK government. I stand by those words.”
He added”The current UK death toll from Covid-19 is above 125,000, which at over 1800 fatalities per million population, is one of the highest per capita rates in the world. Our government failed to protect us from Covid-19.
Paul Sheeky
“Going beyond 1.5 degrees of warming could set off irreversible climate tipping points meaning the heating of the planet is beyond any human control, leading to mass death on an unimaginable scale from: droughts, floods, famine, heat stress, pandemics, superstorms, ecological collapse… the list goes on. Above 2 degrees, scientists say the future of civilization is at risk, higher than that, the future of humanity itself is in danger. These are not things to be ignored and belittled, however hard it is to face them head-on. These things are coming unless we act now.
“The UK Parliament declared a climate emergency almost two years ago. And yet our government continues to pursue policies that will increase carbon levels in the atmosphere: allowing the expansion of airports, the opening of new coal mines, subsidising the burning of trees at Drax power station, increasing the number of roads and therefore the carbon emissions from road transport, destroying ancient woodland for the carbon-intensive vanity-project HS2, allowing the building of new waste-to-energy incinerators… the list goes on. Our government are failing to protect us from climate catastrophe.
“The action I undertook on March 13th was a legitimate and proportionate act of conscientious protest against a government that is willfully acting in a manner that is harmful to the people of Britain, the nation of Britain and future generations of British citizens.
“However, throughout this the government continually claim there is no emergency and that their policies are the greenest in the world. There’s only one word for what this is: lies.
“And so it goes with Andrew Carter MP. Shortly after the action I took on March 13th, Andrew Carter wrote on social media that I was ‘hammering on the windows and shouting abuse’. I did no such thing. Andrew Carter MP is simply a liar.
“As far as I could tell the office was empty: the blinds were clearly drawn and there was no sign of activity, plus I felt it reasonable to assume that staff from the Conservative Party may be heeding their own government’s advice to work from home. No-one came out of the office for the entire time I was there and there was no visible activity.
“In addition, I specifically chose washable chalk paint which I had previously tested on glass and knew it would wash off easily with just water, which indeed it did from the Conservative office. The action was not intended to cause damage, but to send a message to my MP and the wider community about the dangers we are all facing if we do not change.
“Though it could well be argued under UK law that the action I took was part of a wider movement to prevent a much larger crime from taking place, I lack the financial and legal means for a protracted battle for justice, so today I am pleading guilty.
At the time of the incident Mr Carter, who thanked those who cleaned up the building said: “It’s completely unacceptable for groups such as XR to hide behind the guise of protest while committing criminal acts that cause damage and intimidation. This is a workplace and nobody should feel worried for their safety when simply doing their job.
“Ironically the United Kingdom is already doing more to tackle climate change and decarbonise our economy than almost any other nation on earth. The UK is the first major economy to legislate to end our contribution to climate change by 2050.
“It would be far more productive if, rather than damaging property, those behind Extinction Rebellion put their efforts into working with the Government to build the green economy as we recover from a global pandemic.”
Activist charged with criminal damage after spray painting MP’s office
