Brighton woman arrested after planes painted orange at Stansted

Just Stop Oil named Cole Macdonald as one of the women who gained access to Stansted Airport on Thursday and painted two private jets using fire extinguishers filled with orange paint.

The activist group named the other woman as 28-year-old Jennifer Kowalski, from Dumbarton.

Read more: Anger over villager’s plans to use garden for private helicopter landings

Essex Police said they arrested a 28-year-old woman from Dumbarton and a 22-year-old woman from Brighton on suspicion of criminal damage and interference with the use or operation of national infrastructure.

Screen grab taken from handout video of Just Stop Oil protesters cutting a hole in a fence before spraying orange paint over parked private jets at London Stansted Airport in Essex (Image: Just Stop Oil/PA)

Just Stop Oil said Taylor Swift’s jet landed at the airport hours before, although Stansted Airport denied Swift’s jet was at the airfield.

Swift performs at Wembley Stadium tonight as part of her Eras tour with further shows planned at the London venue until Sunday.

Just Stop Oil shared a video on platform X showing an activist gaining entry to the airfield using an angle grinder.

An activist wearing a Just Stop Oil t-shirt can then be seen spraying orange paint over parked planes before two activists sit on the tarmac and hug.

In the post Just Stop Oil said: “Just Stop Oil paint private jets hours after Taylor Swift’s lands.

“Jennifer and Cole cut the fence into the private airfield at Stansted where Taylor Swift’s jet is parked, demanding an emergency treaty to end fossil fuels by 2030.”

Essex Police made the arrests after they received reports two people had gained access to an area “well away” from the runway and main passenger terminal, before causing damage to two aircraft.

Screen grab taken from handout video of Just Stop Oil protesters Jennifer Kowalski (left), 28, a former sustainability manager from Dumbarton, and Cole Macdonald, 22, from Brighton, after they sprayed orange paint over parked private jets at Stansted (Image: Just Stop Oil/PA)

Chief Superintendent Simon Anslow said: “I would like to reassure passengers and the wider public that we are well prepared and resourced to deal with incidents of this nature.

“Almost immediately after we were made aware of this incident, which took place away from the main passenger terminal, we were on the scene.

“We maintain a constant presence at the airport and this presence will be heightened over the summer period.

“We have a good working relationship with Stansted Airport to ensure you can go about your travels with minimal impact.

“We are not anti-protest but we will always take action where criminal acts take place.”

Taylor Swift has been criticised over the usage of her private jet and the carbon emissions it creates.

Macdonald said: “We’re living in two worlds: one where billionaires live in luxury, able to fly in private jets away from the other, where unlivable conditions are being imposed on countless millions. Meanwhile, this system that is allowing extreme wealth to be accrued by a few, to the detriment of everyone else, is destroying the conditions necessary to support human life in a rapidly accelerating never-ending ‘cruel summer’. Billionaires are not untouchable, climate breakdown will affect every single one of us.”