The Independent UK -The threat of global warming is so great that campaigners were justified in causing more than £35,000 worth of damage to a coal-fired power station, a jury decided yesterday. In a verdict that will have shocked ministers and energy companies the jury at Maidstone Crown Court cleared six Greenpeace activists of criminal damage.

Kingsnorth was the centre for mass protests by climate camp activists last month. Last year, three protesters managed to paint Gordon Brown’s name on the plant’s chimney. Their handi-work cost £35,000 to remove.

This is the second time Greenpeace has managed to use the “lawful excuse” defence. This law was enacted in 1971 to cover things like breaking down the door to get into a burning building. It was first used in 1999, when 28 Greenpeace campaigners led by Lord Melchett, who was director at the time, were cleared of criminal damage after trashing an experimental field of GM crops in Norfolk. In each case the damage was not disputed – the point at issue was the motive.

The question becomes: If they had burned the plant to the ground would the defense have held up when the jury was forced to consider how much the fire would have contributed to the co2 levels in the atmosphere?