Climate protester Dr Diana Warner, 65, was walking down the railway line outside Drax power station, in North Yorkshire, wearing orange high-visibility clothing and waving an orange flag when a 400-metre long empty freight train stopped on December 14, 2021, Leeds Crown Court has heard.
A jury trying a retired GP who stopped a train heading for the UK’s biggest power station has asked a judge for advice after saying “as a matter of conscience we are finding it difficult to come to a verdict”.
After deliberating for about an hour, the jury came back into court with a note for Judge Guy Kearl KC, the Recorder of Leeds, which said: “As a matter of conscience we are finding it difficult to come to a verdict.
On Monday, Warner told the jury how she went to the railway line near the power station to protest about the plant’s contribution to the climate emergency and deforestation.
Judge Kearl told the jurors that they should not decide a case based on conscience, telling them they should come to a verdict based on applying the law, defined by him, to the facts of the case, defined by them.
