Silverstone track invaders await appeal ruling

The track invasion took place during the 2022 British Grand Prix

Five Just Stop Oil activists who disrupted the 2022 British Grand Prix must wait to discover if they have successfully challenged their public nuisance convictions.

Three of the protesters got onto the Silverstone Circuit in Northamptonshire during the race.

At an appeal hearing on Wednesday, the group's lawyers argued their convictions were "unsafe".

Three appeal court judges will give a written ruling at a later date.

Alasdair Gibson, Louis McKechnie, David Baldwin, Emily Brocklebank and Joshua Smith were convicted at Northampton Crown Court last year of risking "serious harm" to drivers and race marshals during the track invasion.

They had all denied causing a public nuisance and argued they had followed a "meticulous" safety plan.

Emily Brocklebank was given a suspended prison sentence for the track invasion

McKechnie, 23, and Brocklebank, 26, have previous convictions for gluing themselves to the frame of a £70m Van Gogh painting days before the F1 protest.

They were given suspended prison sentences of 12 months and six months respectively, both suspended for two years.

Baldwin, who is 48, Gibson, 23, and Smith, 30, were handed 12-month community orders.

At the appeal hearing, the group's lawyers argued their convictions were "unsafe".

Louis McKechnie was given a suspended prison sentence for the track invasion

The protesters' lawyers argued that only a "handful" of individuals were potentially put at risk by their actions, which did not amount to an impact on "a section of the public" as required by the relatively-new public nuisance offence.

Nadesh Karu, representing Smith and Brocklebank, said Silverstone's Wellington Straight, where the track invasion took place, was not open to the public.

He added that prosecutors accepted the 115,000 spectators were not at risk of serious harm.

Simon Jones, for the Crown Prosecution Service, told the court: "From the moment each individual jumped the first fence, they were going into a dangerous prohibited area," he said.

"There were clearly sections of the public who were at risk."

A lawyer told the appeal hearing that the Wellington Straight was not open to the public

Brocklebank, of Yeadon, Leeds, Gibson, from Aberdeen, McKechnie, from Manchester, and Smith, from Oldham, went on to the race circuit during the protest.

Baldwin, from Stonesfield in Oxfordshire, the only member of the five to attend court, was found in a car park along with glue, cable ties and a Just Stop Oil banner.

Lord Justice Holroyde said appeal judges needed to reflect on legal arguments, adding that the cases took the court into "new territory".