Green activists 'invaded airport and played game of golf to halt flights'

NINE climate change protesters accused of shutting down a busy airport played miniature golf while flights were halted, a court heard yesterday.

The protesters are charged with cutting a security fence at Aberdeen airport and locking themselves to fencing they erected on an aircraft taxiing area, preventing take-offs or landings.

The nine – eight from Scotland and one from England – are also charged with climbing on to the roof of the terminal building and displaying a banner on 3 March last year.

Giving evidence at Aberdeen Sheriff Court yesterday, airport security officer Claire Sandison, 26, told the jury she spotted a group of people piecing together a square of metal fencing when on patrol in the early hours. Others in the group were playing miniature golf, she said.

Ms Sandison said she was called to the scene on the "taxiway" at about 3:35am, where she also found the perimeter fence line had been cut.

She said: "I could just see they were finishing piecing together four corners. Others were sitting down."

Asked by prosecutor Alan Townsend what else they were doing, the witness said: "Playing mini-golf."

The nine accused are Mark Andrews, 26, from Edinburgh; William Boggia, 44, from Ballater, Aberdeenshire; Matilda Gifford, 25, Daniel Glass, 26, Emilia Karwowska, 20, Jonathan Agnew, 24, and Josephine Hanson, 25, all from Glasgow; James Kerr, 35, from Paisley; and Katherine Mackay, 21, from Shipley, West Yorkshire. All nine deny the charges.

Under cross-examination by Mr Andrews' defence counsel, George Gebbie, QC, Ms Sandison said, when she carried out her patrol at 1am, the airport was open to emergency flights only, and there were no such flights that morning.

The witness agreed with Mr Gebbie when he said: "Effectively, Aberdeen airport was shut at that time."

She also agreed the site of the fencing, the holding point on the taxiway, was a "safe area for vehicles to taxi on".

He said: "When you are here, you don't present any danger to what is on the runway? It is, by definition, a safe area?"

Ms Sandison agreed.

Under re-examination by Mr Townsend, she said it was a safe area "when there's permission".

She agreed that air traffic control gives clearance for people to use the taxiway "to stop dangerous situations developing", and said the people she saw had not been given permission.

Mr Gebbie earlier questioned photographer Kenneth Thomson, of the Scottish Police Services Authority, who took pictures of the scene at 7am or 8am on the day of the incident. In one image, a plane could be seen flying above the square fencing.

Mr Gebbie said: "When you were taking photos, the airport was functioning for at least part of the time, is that correct?"

Mr Thomson agreed.

The trial continues.