Just Stop Oil pair sentenced for Crucible Theatre snooker protest

A Just Stop Oil protester who jumped onto a snooker table and covered it in orange powder during the World Snooker Championship has been given an 18-month community order.

Edred Whittingham, 26, disrupted a match between Robert Milkins and Joe Perry at Sheffield’s Crucible Theatre on 17 April 2023, with an international TV audience witnessing the protest.

On Wednesday at Sheffield Magistrates’ Court, he was also told to pay £899 in compensation for damaging the table and asked to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work.

Whittingham, of Exeter, denied a criminal damage charge but was found guilty after a one-day trial in May.

Co-defendant Margaret Reid, 53, from Kendal, in Cumbria, was given a two-year community order and told to carry out 100 hours of unpaid work after being found guilty of attempting to cause criminal damage on another table.

Completion of the first-round match was delayed until the following day as a result of the protest, with Whittingham throwing dyed corn starch powder.

Reid’s attempts to disrupt the match on the other table, on which Mark Allen and Fan Zhengyi were playing, were foiled when she was stopped by referee Olivier Marteel.

District Judge Daniel Curtis told the pair prison was “almost inevitable” if they continued their criminal activities.

Spectators were “robbed” of entertainment when the matches were stopped, World Snooker Tour chief executive officer Simon Brownell said in a victim impact statement read to court.

“They bought a ticket to our event and gave their best effort to destroy it, without a care in the world for the thousands of people who saved their money to attend,” he said.

Security costs had increased by “hundreds of thousands of pounds” following the incident, he added.

In mitigation for Whittingham, the court heard the type of substance was selected “not to cause maximum damage but simply to have a visual effect as part of the protest”.

Representing herself in court, Reid said: “I’m a pretty boring middle-aged person that, like a lot of people, tries to do their best – it would have been much easier to stay at home and pretend my little community was going to be fine.”

Sentencing the pair to community orders, Judge Curtis said some people “will be highly critical” of not sending them to prison, adding he had to apply the sentencing guidelines.

Outside court, Whittingham told the BBC he would continue protesting, adding: “We’re facing a climate crisis.

“Prison time, community service, it’s not going to deter us.”

Whittingham was also told to carry out a 25-day rehabilitation order along with paying £390 in trial costs.

Reid was given a 10-day rehabilitation order, told to pay £390 trial costs and handed a £114 victim surcharge.

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