SIX Just Stop Oil activists have been told they should ‘be in no doubt’ that they face a prison term after being found guilty of causing a public nuisance.

Louis McKechnie, 22 and originally from Weymouth, is among those to have been found guilty for their role in a ‘track invasion’ at the British Grand Prix last July. 

A nearly three week-long trial, held at Northampton Crown Court, was told that McKechnie - alongside co-defendants David Baldwin, Emily Brocklebank, Alasdair Gibson, Bethany Mogie, and Joshua Smith - caused an “immediate risk of serious harm” when they ran on to the track at Silverstone and proceeded to sit down.

Jurors returned six guilty verdicts on Friday, February 10 after retiring to consider their verdicts on Wednesday afternoon.

They had previously been shown  on-board footage from Formula One drivers Yuki Tsunoda and Esteban Ocon as they passed three men and two women who were sitting down on the track’s Wellington Straight.

Baldwin was found in a car park along with glue, cable ties and a Just Stop Oil banner and was said by the prosecutors to have been “in it together” with his co-defendants.

During the trial, prosecutor Simon Jones told the jury: “Each of these defendants were present at Silverstone and they were intent on causing a disruption to the race.

“The prosecution say that there was clearly an immediate risk of serious harm being caused. Plainly they could have been struck by fast-moving vehicles with obvious severe consequences.”

McKechnie told jurors the group had planned the protest over two-and-a-half months, making it as safe as possible.

He told the court that the group’s actions had been inspired by the ‘tactics’ of Gandhi. 

He said: “I saw the politicians ignoring the scientists, which felt like a recipe for disaster.

“I felt Just Stop Oil addresses a key issue which needs to be solved immediately.

“Historically this (direct action) is what works. It worked for the suffragettes, it worked for Gandhi… we are using their tactics because nothing else works.”

McKechnie; Brocklebank, 24 and from Yeadon in Leeds; Gibson, 22 and from Aberdeen; Mogie, 40 and from St Albans; and Smith, 29 and from Lees in Oldham, were found guilty of causing a public nuisance by a unanimous verdict.

Baldwin, 47 and of Stonesfield in Oxfordshire, was found guilty by a majority verdict of 10-2.

Mr Justice Neil Garnham adjourned the case for a pre-sentence report to be prepared by probation. 

He told the defendants he wanted to ‘make it clear’ he was ‘considering all possible options and that includes the possibility of imprisonment’.

The defendants will be sentenced on Friday, March 31 and have been released on bail.