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Two Just Stop Oil activists who thought they were spray painting Taylor Swift’s private jet have been spared jail.
Jennifer Kowalski, 29, and Cole Macdonald, 23, breached the perimeter fence at Stansted Airport in June last year with an angle grinder and then took turns spraying two planes with orange paint.
The pair hoped that by targeting megastar Taylor Swift’s aircraft, they would convince her to speak out on the climate crisis – but the two planes they sprayed turned out to belong to an insurance firm and an investment group.
In court, the protesters claimed they had not realised the paint would damage the jets but a jury took less than two hours to find them both guilty of criminal damage .
On Monday, Kowalski, of Dumbarton in Scotland, who had previous convictions over protests in Scotland, was sentenced to five months in prison, suspended for 12 months.
Macdonald, of Brighton, East Sussex, was sentenced to six weeks in prison, suspended for eight months.
Just Stop Oil protester Cole Macdonald in front of a private jet that she and Jennifer Kowalski spray painted orange. Credit: Just Stop Oil
Judge Alexander Mills, sentencing at Chelmsford Crown Court, told the campaigners: “The actions of the two of you were all about publicity – both for Just Stop Oil and for yourselves.
“What greater publicity could there be than anything related to Taylor Swift.”
The incident was filmed by the protesters, with the footage showing how they used fire extinguishers to spread the paint along the length of the white jets.
During the video, Kowalski, of Dumbarton in Scotland, explained: “Our aim was to try to get Taylor Swifts private jet, not because she’s the biggest climate criminal around or anything like that, but she has such an opportunity to create meaningful and powerful change and to save her fans’ lives, to save her own legacy, but instead she’s wasting that opportunity.
“Everything is at stake here when it comes to the climate crisis.”
Just Stop Oil published the recording to YouTube just after the incident on June 20 2024 with a press release naming those responsible.
Chelmsford Crown Court was told invoices show the cost of cleaning the two aircraft had been £12,576, while a further £24,000 was spent on consultation and inspection by engineers.
Repairs to the airport’s perimeter fence cost £19,234.
Just Stop Oil campaigners Jennifer Kowalski, 29, (left) and Cole MacDonald, 23, pose outside Chelmsford Crown Court in September 2025. Credit: PA
Laura O’Brien, for Kowalski, said Kowalski had a “conscientious motive” and the protest – in an area of the airport for private aviation – was “intended to have a minimal impact on the public”.
“This wasn’t about grounding commercial flights, this wasn’t about stopping people going on holidays, it was about taking a message to a symbol of the climate crisis,” she said.
Rebecca Martin, for Macdonald, said that “any activism she takes part in in future she intends to be entirely lawful”.
She said that Macdonald’s 11 days in custody after her arrest and on a curfew after bail had been “very salutary”.
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