A CAMPAIGNER fined for whitewashing the walls of the Department for Energy and Climate Change has said she was trying to “expose the hypocrisy” of the department. 

Hartley Wintney resident Ruth Jarman, 53, and four other campaigners from the Christian Climate Action group whitewashed DECC’s offices in Whitehall, London last November.

They were found guilty of criminal damage during a hearing at

Hammersmith Magistrates' Court on May 31.

The five campaigners were ordered to pay £340 each.

Held in front of a packed public gallery, the defendants, who represented themselves, explained their actions in defacing the government buildings with the words ‘Department for Extreme Climate Change’. 

Their protest happened on the first day of the Paris climate conference. 

Mrs Jarman said: “We do not agree with the judgement. The point of law is to maintain justice, stability and order. 

“Climate change threatens all these things so fundamentally the law should be used to defend those who are trying to stop climate change, not those who are creating it. We think DECC should have been in the dock, not us.”

The campaigners were supported by 25 fellow advocates of climate change, who gathered outside the court throughout the day. 

The group is concerned about the DECC receiving increased financial support for gas and oil but pulling its support for renewable and low carbon technologies.

Mrs Jarman added: “DECC speaks fine words but their actions ensure we have dangerous, dirty and expensive power supplies and, most crucially, scupper any chance of sufficient global action.

“All the lobbying and ordinary democratic processes were not being heard. We had to be more creative in our actions and to speak louder.”