25 January 2023 , 15:32
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Formula 1 racers and marshals faced "an immediate risk of serious harm" at last year's British Grand Prix when the track was invaded by environmental protestors, a court has been told.
Several members representing Just Stop Oil made their way onto the Silverstone track just as the F1 race got underway. But a huge crash at the first corner meant that, by the time cars reached the part of the track where the protesters were, the race had been neutralised.
Still, footage showed cars passing the protesters who had sat down on the track, as marshals tried to drag them onto the grass. Video evidence from cameras on board cars driven by Lewis Hamilton, Esteban Ocon and Yuki Tsunoda was shown to Northampton Crown Court on Wednesday at the start of a trial for six defendants.
David Baldwin, 47, Emily Brocklebank, 24, Alasdair Gibson, 22, Louis McKechnie, 22, Bethany Mogie, 40, and Joshua Smith, 29, all deny causing a public nuisance at the Northamptonshire circuit in July last year.
Brocklebank, of Yeadon, Leeds; Gibson, from Aberdeen; Mogie, from St Albans; McKechnie, from Manchester; and Smith, from Lees in Oldham, went on to the race circuit during the protest. Meanwhile, Baldwin, of Stonesfield, Oxfordshire, was found in possession of a Just Stop Oil banner as well as glue and cable ties in the car park.
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Simon Jones, prosecuting, said Baldwin was "in it together" with his co-defendants. He told the court: "These defendants committed a criminal act of public nuisance. As events unfolded, the F1 Grand Prix had started and it was under a red flag after a serious accident had occurred at the very start.
Just Stop Oil protesters (left to right) Bethany Mogie, Alasdair Gibson, Emily Brocklebank and David Baldwin outside court on Wednesday (PA)"Each of these defendants were present at Silverstone and they were intent on causing a disruption to the race. It is not in dispute that five of the defendants in this case – all of them save for David Baldwin – made it on to the race track and they did not have permission to be there.
"There is no dispute as to that, and they sat down in front of the ongoing cars – Formula 1 motor racing cars. They will inevitably say that this was done as an act of protest and in order to bring publicity to the cause and demand they make – of no new oil and gas licences.
Just Stop Oil supporters outside Northampton Crown Court (PA)"You will see the moment they got on the track, having initially waited for most of the vehicles to pass. You will then see two Formula 1 racing cars driving past the protesters... while five of the defendants were on the track. You will see marshals having to run on to the track and drag the protesters off to the side.
"The prosecution say that there was clearly an immediate risk of serious harm being caused. Plainly they could have been struck by fast-moving vehicles with obvious severe consequences. We say that that their actions also caused risk to the drivers themselves and the marshals."
The trial continues.