Cleared: Jury decides that threat of global warming justifies breaking the law

**Environmentalists seem to have been given the green card to start smashing up or to damage anything deemed to be a threat to the environment with this ruling. Power plants, factories, lorries, cars and possibly your home could be targeted by any Green Groups including the Alarmist groups that only take "Direct Action".**

 

Cleared: Jury decides that threat of global warming justifies breaking the law

 

By Michael McCarthy, Environment Editor
Thursday, 11 September 2008

The threat of global warming is so great that campaigners were justified in causing more than £35,000 worth of damage to a coal-fired power station, a jury decided yesterday. In a verdict that will have shocked ministers and energy companies the jury at Maidstone Crown Court cleared six Greenpeace activists of criminal damage.

Jurors accepted defence arguments that the six had a "lawful excuse" to damage property at Kingsnorth power station in Kent to prevent even greater damage caused by climate change. The defence of "lawful excuse" under the Criminal Damage Act 1971 allows damage to be caused to property to prevent even greater damage – such as breaking down the door of a burning house to tackle a fire.

The not-guilty verdict, delivered after two days and greeted with cheers in the courtroom, raises the stakes for the most pressing issue on Britain's green agenda and could encourage further direct action.

Read Full Report