AN activist who graffitied on a court building has been jailed for two weeks.

Venetia Carter, 58, used chalk spray to paint “Insulate Britain” on Crawley Magistrates’ Court last month in support of fellow climate activists.

Carter, of Sutherland Road, appeared before Brighton Magistrates yesterday, May 4 charged with criminal damage.

In her mitigation she said: "I am here because of a non-violent act taken as a rational and compassionate response to the failure of our government.  

“It is failing to meet legally-binding targets for carbon emissions set under the Paris Accord. 

“It is failing to communicate to the people at large the emergency that Parliament itself has declared.  

The Argus: Venetia Carter centreVenetia Carter centre

“This failure could cost us our lives, our children’s and grandchildren’s lives. 

“It seems that what I have done is a crime and I have been advised there is no defence in law that I could offer with a reasonable hope of success. 

“I know that it is not a crime to be a bystander, to watch as the world burns, when scientists are pleading with us to act to avert the unimaginable suffering entailed by global ecological and societal collapse.  

“But I would rather stand here and plead guilty to criminal damage than to stand on the sidelines, wringing my hands and bear the guilt of failing to act at this crucial point in history.

“On Friday, a European Space Agency satellite recorded a land surface temperature of over 60 degrees Centigrade in India.”

The Argus:

Magistrates told Carter she had "stuck two fingers up at the judiciary system" adding that she would have been sentenced to the full three months but could not since Carter has no previous convictions.

Carter was taken to Bronzefield Prison. She now has a solicitor and is appealing the sentence.