Van Gogh oil activists guilty

Aclimate activist who glued himself to a Van Gogh painting suggested the artist may have agreed with his demonstration. Just Stop Oil supporters Emily Brocklebank, 24, and Louis McKechnie, 22, have been found guilty of causing just under £2,000 of criminal damage to the picture’s frame.

Jonathan Bryan, prosecuting, said the activists used glue to attach themselves to Van Gogh’s 1889 work Peach Trees In Blossom at the Courtauld Gallery, on the Strand, London, on June 30.

Sentencing the pair at Westminster Magistrates’ Court yesterday, District Judge Neeta Minhas said: “An 18th Century frame which is hundreds of years old has been permanently damaged.”

She continued: “I find you both guilty of criminal damage, having no lawful excuse to cause damage but you did so on a reckless basis.”

Giving evidence, McKechnie had argued: “I believe that a completely logical person who is not a psychopath who owns a painting of this value by Vincent Van Gogh would have respected the artist’s wishes.

“He said himself that the art of nature is not as valuable as nature itself.”

Francesca Cociani, defending the pair, said McKechnie believed an owner who “respected the wishes of the painter” would have “consented to minor damage”.

Asked if the protests were receiving public support, McKechnie said: “In 1960, Martin Luther King was the most hated man in America.

“The civil rights movement still worked.

“It’s not a popularity contest – people don’t have to like what we’re doing.”

Mr Bryan said: “The defendants say they were expressing their rights, under the European convention . . . to freedom of expression . . . and of assembly.

“They say the exercise of those rights gives them a lawful excuse.

“But these are qualified rights, not absolute rights.”

Ms Cociani questioned Karen Serres, a curator at the gallery.

She said it took three hours for the activists to be removed and: “There were concerns over how much of the glue had seeped into the frame and the painting itself.”

There were also worries about the solvent used by police.

Ms Serres said the frame was worth around £20,000.

Student Brocklebank told the court: “Gluing gives a story which the media chooses to follow.

“I didn’t think I would cause much damage. Glue comes off.”

Brocklebank, from Leeds, who appeared in person, and McKechnie, from Weymouth, Dorset, who appeared in custody from HMP Peterborough, had denied the charges.

Ms Cociani said the damage was “trivial”.

McKechnie was jailed for three weeks. Brocklebank received 21 days suspended for six months and a six-week curfew.

STICKY SITUATION: Protester Emily Brocklebank arrives at court.