Four protesters have pleaded not guilty to criminal damage after Greenpeace activists draped Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s home with anti-oil and gas banners last year.

Amy Rugg-Easey, 33, Alexandra Wilson, 32, and Michael Grant, 64, appeared at York Magistrates’ Court over the demonstration at Mr Sunak‘s house in Kirby Sigston, near Northallerton, on 3 August.

A fourth protester, Mathieu Soete, 38, appeared via video-link for the hearing on Thursday.

The four defendants denied the charge of damaging roof slates to a value of less than £5,000 belonging to Mr Sunak and Akshata Murty.

District Judge Adrian Lower set a date of 23 July for the start of the two-day trial.

The group were bailed, with the condition of not entering the parish of Kirby Sigston.

Greenpeace claimed at the time of the protests that no damage was caused to the property, and they decided to carry out the action when the prime minister and his family were in California.

Following today’s events, Greenpeace’s Mel Evans said: “This protest took place at Sunak’s house in his Yorkshire constituency, when it was widely reported in the national news that the PM and his family were abroad, holidaying in California.

“England has just experienced our wettest eighteen months on record, hundreds of UK homes and farms have been hit by floods and millions spent another winter in fuel poverty while the prime minister continues to support oil and gas expansion, fuelling extreme weather and doing nothing to lower energy bills.

“The government can try to silence protest, but not the weather, and the damage and cost will keep racking up so long as we stick to the same self-destructive policies.”