Student fined over Exeter graduation protest

Edward Whittingham, 26, was fined after being found guilty of causing criminal damage

A University of Exeter student who was arrested at his own graduation ceremony after letting off a fire extinguisher full of orange paint has been fined.

Edward Whittingham, 26, from Norwich, used the extinguisher outside the university's Great Hall in July as part of a Just Stop Oil protest.

He denied two charges of causing criminal damage to the concrete piazza outside the hall and damaging the clothing of a guard.

District Judge Stuart Smith found him guilty of damaging the guard's clothes and boots but not guilty of "minor and trivial" damage to the paving.

His trial heard the Exeter incident came two months after he threw orange powder on a snooker table during televised championships at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield.

Prosecutors at Exeter Magistrates' Court alleged Whittingham's actions were premeditated, not peaceful and a potential risk to people.

The court heard he made a video before the protest saying: "What is the point of education if you are dead?"

The incident lasted about 10 to 15 seconds in a busy area where graduates were having their photographs taken.

Whittingham told the court many millions faced death if action was not taken on climate change, and he demanded the government end new oil and gas projects.

The judge said the politics and philosophy student held "genuine beliefs" on climate change.

He added: "This was not a violent protest."

Whittingham was fined £882, including costs and compensation.