Two climate activists who disrupted the World Snooker Championship by covering tables with orange powder have avoided prison sentences, with one saying his criminal conviction was "absolutely worth it".
Edred Whittingham, known as Eddie, interrupted a match between Robert Milkins and Joe Perry at Sheffield's Crucible Theatre on 17 April last year. Wearing a Just Stop Oil T-shirt, the 26-year-old energy adviser mounted a table and released orange substance before being pulled away by security staff. Fellow protester Margaret Reid, a 53-year-old ex-museum worker, tried to do the same thing on the other table but was tackled by referee Olivier Marteel.
Whittingham was found guilty of causing £900 of criminal damage to a snooker table. Both activists were given community orders and sentenced to 300 hours of unpaid work between them at Sheffield Magistrates' Court.
District Judge Daniel Curtis said "many people would be critical" of his decision not to send the pair to prison, warning: "If you continue to undertake actions that are unlawful – custody is not far away and is almost inevitable."
Speaking outside court, Whittingham said he was willing to go to prison, having been imprisoned twice before. "It's not going to deter us because we're facing a climate crisis," he said. The protest got on front pages of national newspapers and "got billions of views all around the world", adding "in that context it was absolutely worth it".
He told reporters: "It didn't feel pleasant, I didn't want to jump on the snooker table that day but in the context of hundreds of millions of people dying of starvation, poverty, disease, absolutely it was worth it for the publicity."
The court heard the substance was "starch-based powder, chosen not to cause maximum damage but simply to have a visual effect as part of the protest".