Four Just Stop Oil protestors found guilty after GMP foil disruption plans close to Manchester Airport
Four Just Stop Oil protestors were found guilty of conspiracy to cause public nuisance after being arrested near Manchester Airport with plans to disrupt operations by gluing themselves to taxiways. A fifth individual was acquitted. The group was equipped with tools and materials for their protest, which was foiled by police. Authorities praised the coordinated efforts to prevent disruption and ensure public safety.
Four Just Stop Oil activists who planned to glue themselves to Manchester Airport’s taxiway have been convicted of conspiracy to intentionally cause public nuisance, while a fifth defendant walked free.
Indigo Rumbelow, Leanorah Ward, Margaret Reid and Daniel Knorr were caught red-handed in the early hours of 5 August 2024, armed with bolt cutters, angle grinders, glue and sand as they approached the airport perimeter. Officers from Greater Manchester Police’s Tactical Vehicle Intercept Unit detained the group on South Park Road in Gatley, where they discovered the activists wearing Just Stop Oil high-visibility vests and carrying detailed instructions for dealing with police.
The prosecution revealed that Ward possessed a handwritten note explaining their motive: to breach airport security and alert authorities to their presence. In police interviews, Ward expressed regret that their mission failed before reaching the runway. A subsequent search of their Gatley rental property uncovered Knorr’s provisional driving license and camera equipment discarded in bins.
The foiled plot emerged during a summer when Just Stop Oil threatened coordinated airport disruptions nationwide. Police forces collaborated across jurisdictions to minimize public safety risks, with GMP’s Specialist Operations Branch and Serious Crime Division leading the Manchester Airport operation.
Superintendent Helen Caldbeck, GMP’s operational commander for the airport, emphasized the operation’s success: “This group had gone to significant trouble and expense in the preparation of the intended action that morning. If they had gained access to the airfield, not only would they have placed themselves in extreme danger, but they would have caused untold disruption to travellers and holiday makers.”
Rad Taylor, Manchester Airport’s Director of Aerodrome Operations, praised the security measures that prevented potential catastrophe: “What these individuals were planning would not only have caused significant disruption for tens of thousands of passengers, but also a significant safety risk. The potential consequences of that do not bear thinking about.”
The verdicts, delivered Friday at Minshull Crown Court, ended a prosecution that Natalie Mackenzie from CPS North West described as targeting “a planned and targeted attack against one of the country’s busiest airports which could have caused significant disruption.” Noah Crane was acquitted of all charges.
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