Extinction Rebellion newspaper protest: Two plead to guilty to obstruction

Protesters blocked roads to the presses

Two people have pleaded guilty to charges following protests at a press owned by Rupert Murdoch's News UK.

They were among 51 Extinction Rebellion activists charged with obstructing the highway after the blockade of Newsprinters in Broxbourne, Herts.

Eleanor McAree, 26, from Brentwood, Essex, was fined and Will Farbrother, 39, from Walthamstow, east London, given a conditional discharge.

Another 28 pleaded not guilty to the charges.

The remaining defendants are due at St Albans Magistrates' Court on Tuesday.

Protesters targeted the press which prints the Rupert Murdoch-owned titles including The Sun, The Times, The Sun on Sunday, and The Sunday Times last month.

They also print the Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph, the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday and the London Evening Standard.

Demonstrators accused the papers of failing to report on climate change.

Prosecutor Nigel Ogborne said a number of a protesters "were chained together in a plastic tube full of cement" and vans were blocking the road.

He said McAree had an arm in the tube and was lying under the axle of a van while Farbrother was in the tube of cement.

McAree, of Ongar Road, a project manager, was also in breach of a nine-month conditional discharge imposed last December for an Extinction Rebellion protest in London.

She was fined £500 for the Broxbourne obstruction, plus £105 costs, £50 victim surcharge and £150 for breaching the conditional discharge.

Farbrother, of Forest Road, who was leaving the civil service to work with refugees, was given a six-month condition discharge and was ordered to pay £105 costs and a £22 victim surcharged.

Trial dates for those who pleaded not guilty have been set for May and June next year at Stevenage Magistrates' Court.

Those who face trial were bailed with a condition that they do not go within 500m of Newsprinter's premises.