Two Just Stop Oil activists have been charged with criminal damage after defacing Charles Darwin’s grave in Westminster Abbey.
Alyson Lee, 66, and Diane Bligh, 77, are set to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court next month after painting the words ‘1.5 is dead’ in orange paint on the 19th century biologist’s grave on Monday.
The zealots delivered a brief lecture to onlookers about how Darwin – the founder of evolutionary biology – would be ‘turning in his grave’ before police led them away.
A spokesperson for the church said they do not anticipate there will be any permanent damage caused by the protest.
Lee, a retired teaching assistant from Derby, is due to appear in court on February 11, while Di Bligh, a former chief executive of Reading Council from Frome in Somerset, will appear on February 12.
On Monday, Lee said: ‘We are trying to get the Government to act on climate change. They are not doing enough.’
Bligh added: ‘We’ve done this because there’s no hope for the world, really.
‘We’ve done it on Darwin’s grave specifically because he would be turning in that grave because of the sixth mass extinction taking place now.’
Just Stop Oil activists Alyson Lee, 66, and Di Bligh, 77, (pictured defacing Charles Darwin’s grave in Westminster Abbey) have been charged with criminal damage
The zealots delivered a brief lecture to onlookers about how Darwin – the founder of evolutionary biology – would be ‘turning in his grave’ before police led them away
The Metropolitan Police later confirmed two women had been arrested on suspicion of causing criminal damage. Pictured: Police outside Westminster Abbey following the protest
Lee added: ‘I believe he would approve because he was a good scientist and he would be following the science, and he would be as upset as us with the Government for ignoring the science.’
The EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) confirmed on Friday that last year was the warmest on record globally and the first calendar year that the average temperature exceeded 1.5C above pre-industrial levels.
Pursuing efforts to prevent the world warming more than 1.5C above pre-industrial temperatures is one of the key commitments of the global Paris Treaty which countries agreed to in 2015, in a bid to avert the most dangerous impacts of climate change.
The Metropolitan Police later confirmed two women had been arrested on suspicion of causing criminal damage ‘with what is believed to be powdered paint at Westminster Abbey’.
A spokesperson for the church said they do not anticipate there will be any permanent damage and its doors remain open for worshippers and visitors.
Bligh was arrested last year for trying to block the security screening zone at London Heathrow’s Terminal Five.
The 77-year-old former CEO of Reading Council has a long history of taking part in disruptive environmental protests.
The grandmother, from Rode in Somerset, was director of housing at the council before taking over as its leader in the 1990s.
Climate activists from Just Stop Oil sit next to the grave of British naturalist Charles Darwin at Westminster Abbey after spray painting it with orange paint
Just Stop Oil of protesters Di Bligh, 77, and Alyson Lee, 66, sat beside the grave, in the north aisle of the nave of Westminster Abbey, during the protest on Monday
The two Just Stop Oil protesters are seen speaking with staff inside the Abbey on Monday
Lee (pictured), a retired teaching assistant from Derby, is due to appear in court on February 11
More recently she has been working for training company Action Learning Associates as a consultant, facilitator, coach, mentor and trainer.
She has a master’s degree in oral history from the University of East Anglia and a BA in England and history from Manchester Metropolitan.
She attended Wyggeston Girls’ Grammar School in Leicester.
In 2022 she appeared at Horsham Magistrates’ Court following an Insulate Britain protest on the M25 but was found not guilty of wilful obstruction of the highway.
Lee was jailed for five weeks in 2023 after blocking a series of major London roads in a previous campaign with Insulate Britain.
She added in a statement released by JSO: ‘Despite lots of fine words from international leaders, emissions are still rising.
‘Without real action, words are useless, you cannot negotiate with the laws of physics. We need mass civil disobedience now, join us on the streets and help us reclaim parliament this April.’
Last week, another JSO protester avoided jail for a M25 protest that saw drivers miss funerals and hospital appointments.
The women – who are both regular environmental protesters – were seen being led away by police
Police outside Westminster Abbey in central London, where Just Stop Oil protesters Di Bligh, 77, and Alyson Lee, 66, spray painted ‘1.5 is dead’ on the grave of Charles Darwin
Abigail Percy-Ratcliff, 25, who was among those responsible for the carnage in July 2022, was found guilty of public nuisance and handed an eight month suspended sentence along with a £1,500 fine.
JSO reacted to the sentencing by vowing that it will be ‘stepping into action again in 2025’.
Percy-Ratcliff’s co-conspirator Louse Lancaster, 58, received a four-year prison term for her part in the turmoil.
Cressida Gethin, a 22-year-old Cambridge University student, was also sentenced to four years for conspiracy to cause public nuisance.
A Westminster Abbey spokesperson said: ‘Westminster Abbey can confirm that orange chalk was sprayed by climate activists on Charles Darwin’s gravestone today.
‘The Abbey’s conservators are taking immediate action to clean the memorial and do not anticipate that there will be any permanent damage.
‘The police were called to the scene and dealt with the incident. The Abbey remains open for visiting and worshipping.’
