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Phoebe Plummer

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Phoebe Plummer
Born (2001-09-26) 26 September 2001 (age 23)
London
OrganisationJust Stop Oil
MovementClimate activism
Criminal chargesCriminal damage, interfering with key national infrastructure
Criminal penalty2 years and 3 months imprisonment

Phoebe Plummer (born 26 September 2001) is a British climate activist associated with the environmental protest group Just Stop Oil. They[a] gained public attention in October 2022 after throwing tomato soup over Vincent van Gogh's Vincent Van Gogh Sunflowers painting painting at the National Gallery in London, in a protest intended to highlight the urgency of the climate crisis and oppose new fossil fuel projects. In July 2024, Plummer was convicted of criminal damage for the act and was sentenced in September 2024 to two years' imprisonment.

In May 2024, Plummer was also found guilty of interfering with key national infrastructure following their participation in a slow march protest that disrupted traffic in west London. They stated that the action was meant to draw attention to government inaction on climate change. For this offence, they received an additional three-month prison sentence, bringing their total sentence to 27 months.

Early life

Plummer was born on 26 September 2001[b] and has two older brothers.[4] They are queer and non-binary, and use singular they pronouns.[5][1] Plummer grew up in Chelsea, London, and attended St Mary's School Ascot before completing GCSEs and A-levels at Mander Portman Woodward College in Kensington.[6][4][7]

After reading a 2019 UN climate report, they went vegan, stopped flying, and began buying only second-hand clothes.[2] Plummer became involved in activism by signing petitions, contacting MPs, and joining marches.[4] They briefly studied computer science at the University of Manchester, but left due to a climate-related mental health crisis, later transferring to SOAS University of London to study social anthropology.[7][5][2][4]

See also: Just Stop Oil Sunflowers protest

Plummer began engaging in non-violent direct action in July 2022, inspired by record UK temperatures and frustration with the limits of personal lifestyle changes.[2][5] They joined Just Stop Oil in August and were arrested three times within a week, twice for disabling petrol pumps.[2] On 14 October 2022, Plummer and fellow activist Anna Holland threw tomato soup on Vincent van Gogh’s Sunflowers at the National Gallery in London.[8][9] While the painting was protected by glass and unharmed, the frame sustained £10,000 in damage.[2] Both were arrested and later convicted of criminal damage in July 2024.

Later that year, Plummer took part in protests that blocked the M25 motorway and spent time in prison on remand. They continued to gain media attention, including appearing in a 2023 Dazed photoshoot holding a can of soup.[2]

On 15 November 2023, Plummer joined a slow march protest on Earls Court Road that caused hours of traffic disruption. They were held on remand for 18 days.[10] In May 2024, Plummer was tried and convicted under section 7 of the Public Order Act 2023 for interfering with key national infrastructure - becoming one of the first to be convicted under the new law.[11]

In March 2024, they were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to burgle and for sending a malicious communication after attempting to deliver a letter to MP Emily Thornberry.[citation needed] Later that month, they broke bail condiations by attempting to deliver another letter to MP Wes Streeting.[12][13]

In July 2024, Plummer and another activist were arrested for spraying paint on departure boards at Heathrow Airport. Their trial in January 2025 ended in a hung jury, with a retrial scheduled for May 2026.[14]

On 27 September 2024, Plummer was sentenced to two years in prison for the Sunflowers protest and three additional months for the slow march.[3][15] Ahead of the sentencing, Greenpeace UK coordinated an open letter signed by around 150 art-world people urging the court to view the protest as creative iconoclasm, not criminal damage.[16] In January 2025, Plummer and other Just Stop Oil members appealed the length of their sentences, but the Court of Appeal rejected Plummer's challenge in March 2025, citing damage to heritage and cultural assets as an aggravating factor.[17][18][19]

Notes

  1. ^ Plummer uses they/them pronouns.[1]
  2. ^
    • For September 2001, see [2].
    • For 27 September, [3].

References

  1. ^ a b Marshall, Alex (27 September 2024). "Just Stop Oil Activists Sentenced for Attack on Van Gogh Painting". New York Times. Archived from the original on 2 October 2024. Retrieved 2 October 2024.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Mathiesen, Karl (2 October 2024). "The climate protesters who threw soup at a van Gogh painting. (And why they won't stop.)". POLITICO. Retrieved 4 October 2024.
  3. ^ a b Gayle, Damien (27 September 2024). "Just Stop Oil activists throw soup at Van Gogh's Sunflowers after fellow protesters jailed". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2 October 2024.
  4. ^ a b c d Norton, Jim (1 August 2024). "'My dad is a climate denier': The Just Stop Oil poster girl who went from private school to prison". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 26 September 2024. Retrieved 27 September 2024.
  5. ^ a b c Bonvik-Smith, Dickon (10 April 2023). "Lessons From Civil Resistance With Phoebe Plummer". Communicating Climate Change. Archived from the original on 10 April 2023. Retrieved 3 October 2024.
  6. ^ "High Achievers". Mander Portman Woodward. 2021. Retrieved 25 March 2025.
  7. ^ a b Whitworth, Damian (29 July 2024). "'We're not criminals': what Just Stop Oil's poster girls told me". The Times. Retrieved 1 October 2024.
  8. ^ Boyle, Louise (17 October 2022). "Climate protesters hit Van Gogh's Sunflowers with soup. Were they right?". The Independent. Retrieved 8 October 2024.
  9. ^ Wakefield, Lily (29 December 2022). "Climate activist who threw soup at Van Gogh urges LGBTQ+ people to take stand". PinkNews. Archived from the original on 9 April 2024. Retrieved 2 October 2024.
  10. ^ Gayle, Damien (8 May 2024). "First trial of Just Stop Oil activists under new anti-protest laws begins". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2 October 2024.
  11. ^ Gayle, Damien (15 May 2024). "UK climate activists convicted in first trial of new anti-protest laws". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2 October 2024.
  12. ^ Barton, Alex (27 March 2024). "Just Stop Oil poster girl bungles letter stunt by failing to find Labour frontbencher's house". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Archived from the original on 14 July 2024. Retrieved 2 October 2024.
  13. ^ "Just Stop Oil activist breaks bail by posting letter at Wes Streeting's house - but its not his". ITV News. 27 March 2024.
  14. ^ "A jury has failed to reach a verdict in the trial of two Just Stop Oil protesters who were detained after T5 Heathrow departure boards were doused with paint". Radio Jackie. 16 January 2025. Retrieved 28 January 2025.
  15. ^ Rufo, Yasmin (27 September 2024). "Just Stop Oil protesters jailed for throwing soup on Sunflowers". BBC News. Archived from the original on 30 September 2024. Retrieved 2 October 2024.
  16. ^ Gayle, Damien (26 September 2024). "Artists plead for activists who threw soup on a Van Gogh to be spared jail". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2 October 2024.
  17. ^ "Just Stop Oil activists acted 'out of sacrifice', court hears". BBC News. 29 January 2025. Retrieved 29 January 2025.
  18. ^ "Just Stop Oil protesters gain support of suffragette relative". BBC News. 29 January 2025. Retrieved 29 January 2025.
  19. ^ "JSO co-founder's sentence reduced by appeal court". BBC News. 7 March 2025.
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