Climate protesters convicted of criminally damaging Constable masterpiece

The damage caused was “significant not trivial” and that the defendants “were reckless” and caused it “without lawful excuse”

Two climate protesters who inflicted more than £1,000 of damage to a John Constable masterpiece have been convicted.

Hannah Hunt, 23, and Eben Lazarus, 22, taped printed posters of a “dystopian version” of the artwork onto the painting on July 4.

The Just Stop Oil activists then glued their hands to its frame in the National Gallery.

The Hay Wain, which was painted in 1821, depicts a scene in Flatford Mill of a wagon returning to the fields across a shallow ford for another load.

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Hunt and Lazarus were each convicted by a district judge of causing criminal damage at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday.

The pair entered the gallery in July with three others who distracted security officers so the defendants could tape three printed posters of a “dystopian version of Constable’s painting” onto the canvas.

Read more: Gazette News