THE story of how a group of climate activists were acquitted for criminal damage to Shell’s HQ despite having no defence in law was dramatised on BBC Radio 4 today.

The courtroom drama was based on transcripts of the trial and interviews with the defendants, members of Extinction Rebellion known as the Shell Seven.

In 2019, the group spray-painted “Shell lies” and “Shell knew” on the outside of the oil company’s building in London’s Waterloo area, broke windows and hung a banner accusing the company of ecocide, intentionally doing more than £5,000 worth of damage.

Defence lawyer Raj Chada said during the broadcast: “We put forward various legal arguments, including the right to free speech and that the defendants were acting out of necessity and to stop criminal offences occurring elsewhere.

“The judge said that none of those defences would be available and so the lawyers had no defence to use.”

After the judge ruled out their proposed defence, the activists dismissed their lawyers and represented themselves in court so that they could address the jury directly.

After hearing the defendants explain their actions, the jury found them not guilty. The programme, titled Drama: The Shell Seven, is available on the BBC website.