They were taken into custody in August of last year after using ropes and ladders to scale the Kirby Sigston, near Northallerton, grade II-listed manor house and drape black fabric over the North Yorkshire home.
During the five hours of the demonstration, Amy Rugg-Easey, 33, Alexandra Wilson, 32, Mathieu Soete, 38, and Michael Grant, 64, were charged with criminal damage to fifteen roof slates.
However, District Judge Adrian Lower found that there was “so tenuous” of evidence against the defendants that no court could find them guilty.
On November 11, he promised to issue a comprehensive verdict.
The York Magistrates’ Court prosecutors stated that the bill for repairs for Mr. Sunak and his spouse, Akshata Murty, amounted to just less than £3,000.
The defense lawyer, Owen Greenhall, retorted that it was impossible to prove the protest was the reason behind the damage to the roof.
Malcolm Richardson, an experienced roofer and foreman, was called to examine the section of the roof where the demonstrators had been and found fifteen tiles that needed to be fixed, according to evidence presented in court.
Three of the fifteen images submitted by the prosecution were really of the same tile shot from different perspectives, and some of them had been taken after Mr. Richardson had moved the tiles to the location in question; it was discovered during Mr. Richardson’s testimony.
