Just Stop Oil duo found guilty of damaging Tesla robot

Two Just Stop Oil protesters have been found guilty of criminal damage after they poured orange liquid latex over a dummy robot at a Tesla store in west London.

Nigel Fleming, 64, and Catherine Nash, 75, caused £21.78 of criminal damage – amended from £2,696.40 before their trial – to a mannequin Optimus robot at the Westfield Tesla store in Shepherd’s Bush on 12 March.

They walked into the shop at about 10:15 GMT, untied a banner, made political statements about Tesla owner Elon Musk, and stood around before the police arrived, Westminster Magistrates’ Court heard.

District Judge Louisa Cieciora imposed a month-long conditional discharge on each defendant.

Fleming, a retired tax adviser from London, who coaches chess on Thursdays, and Nash, a retired teacher from Cumbria, will have to split the compensation costs of £21.78 and each will have to pay a £26 victim surcharge.

Fleming told the court the Tesla Bot was chosen because Elon Musk had “influence in US politics” at the time and the protest was because “my grandchildren and other children are at stake as we hurtle towards climate collapse”.

She said they had been careful about choosing the target, preparing the liquid and limiting the possible impact, which is why they were surprised when an earlier charge put the potential damage caused at £2,696.40.

The amendment to £21.78 covers the cost of having to clean the robot.

The judge told the defendants, who represented themselves in court, that despite the care they took in choosing their target they had still caused damage to private property.

She said: “There is no dispute that both of you poured latex over the robot and the latex had to be removed.”

She described the cleaning cost as “incredibly low and reasonable” and that an employee had to clean it and “the value is calculated in terms of their time and nothing else”.