Just Stop Oil pair sentenced for Crucible Theatre snooker protest

Spectators were “robbed” of entertainment when the matches were stopped, World Snooker Tour chief executive officer Simon Brownell said in a victim impact statement read to court.

“They bought a ticket to our event and gave their best effort to destroy it, without a care in the world for the thousands of people who saved their money to attend,” he said.

Security costs had increased by “hundreds of thousands of pounds” following the incident, he added.

In mitigation for Whittingham, the court heard the type of substance was selected “not to cause maximum damage but simply to have a visual effect as part of the protest”.

Representing herself in court, Reid said: “I’m a pretty boring middle-aged person that, like a lot of people, tries to do their best – it would have been much easier to stay at home and pretend my little community was going to be fine.”