 The campaigners painted the name "Gordon" on the chimney |
Multi-millionaire environmentalist Zac Goldsmith has appeared as a defence witness in the trial of six Greenpeace activists charged with criminal damage. He is the second high-profile defence witness to appear. US physicist James Hansen gave evidence on Wednesday. Mr Goldsmith told Maidstone Crown Court an action could be justified if it was to prevent larger crimes taking place. The protesters are charged with causing �30,000 worth of damage after scaling Kingsnorth power station, in Hoo, Kent. They claim they were lawfully right to damage the plant because they believed it would prevent further damage around the world from global warming. The protest last October was against the redevelopment of the plant as a coal-burning unit. 'Pressing issue' Mr Goldsmith, Conservative parliamentary candidate for Richmond Park, stepped down as editor of the Ecologist magazine to work on environment policy for the Tory Party. He told the court there was a "staggering mismatch" in what the government said, and its policies and actions. He said: "Legalities aside, which I don't know, I suppose if a crime is intended to prevent much larger crimes, I think then a lot of people would consider that as justified and a good thing." Mr Goldsmith said that the government had acknowledged the environment as a "pressing issue", but had policies that included trebling airport capacity, and building a coal-fired plant. He added: "By building a coal-power plant in this country, it makes it very much harder in exerting pressure on countries like China and India." 'Non-violent protest' Mr Goldsmith said he did not think the government was "knowingly embarking on a crime" but accused it of lacking imagination in exploring alternatives. The court has heard how protesters painted the name "Gordon" on the 200m (650ft) chimney on 8 October last year, in a political protest. They had planned to daub the words "Gordon, bin it" on the stack, but were threatened with a High Court injunction and arrested.  |  I don't consider what we did as vandalism |
Five people who scaled the chimney - Huw Williams, 41, of Nottingham; Ben Stewart, 34, of Lyminge, Kent; Kevin Drake, 44, of Westbury, Wiltshire; Will Rose, 29, of London; and Emily Hall, 34, from New Zealand - are all charged with criminal damage. Tim Hewke, 48, from Ulcombe, Kent, who the prosecution says helped organise the protest from the ground, is also charged with criminal damage. Mr Williams told jurors the campaigners wanted to close the power station for a couple of days to halt the emission of CO2 gases. He said painting the chimney was "causing the minimum amount of damage to shut down the plant". He added: "The extreme would be blowing the chimney up, but I'm non-violent. "I don't go into these things lightly. If I had smashed the plant up that, in my opinion, would be unlawful damage. "I don't consider what we did as vandalism." The case was adjourned until Friday.
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