Just Stop Oil protest: Two women charged after private jets sprayed with paint at Stansted Airport

Two women have been charged with criminal damage and other offences after Just Stop Oil activists sprayed private jets with orange paint at Stansted Airport.

Jennifer Kowalski, 28, and Cole Macdonald, 22, are both due to appear at Chelmsford Magistrates' Court on Saturday.

They are alleged to have caused more than £5,000 worth of damage.

Essex Police said their officers responded to an incident in the private area of an airfield at the airport on Thursday.

A statement from the force said police were called at around 5am to reports of two people gaining access to an area away from the runway and main passenger terminal "before causing damage to two aircraft".

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It said officers were "on the scene quickly" and two people were arrested "within nine minutes" of the call being made.

Kowalski, from Dumbarton, and Macdonald, of Brighton, have been charged with criminal damage valued at more than £5,000, aggravated trespass and interfering with national infrastructure, officers said.

Swift escape

Essex Police confirmed the private jet of pop star Taylor Swift, which Just Stop Oil said had landed at Stansted "mere hours before", was not at the airport.

The activists entered the airfield and painted two private jets using fire extinguishers filled with orange paint, the environmental group said.

Stansted and its flights continued operating as normal on Thursday.