GPs who cracked JP Morgan windows in climate protest found not guilty of criminal damage

Two GPs who cracked the windows of an investment bank’s offices in a climate protest have been found not guilty of criminal damage.

A jury delivered not-guilty verdicts to all six healthcare workers arrested for the incident, following a two-week trial which concluded at Snaresbrook Crown Court yesterday.

On 17 July 2022 the defendants cracked eight glass panes at JP Morgan Chase’s central London offices. Among the group arrested were GP Dr Patrick Hart and retired GP Dr David McKelvey.  

Each defendant was a member of the group Doctors for XR (Extinction Rebellion) – since renamed Health for XR. 

The group did not dispute the core facts of the case – that the medics had caused the damage – but they denied criminal damage on the basis their action was ‘proportionate and necessary to save future lives’. 

In a statement, Health for XR said: ‘The prosecution appealed to the jury that this was a simple case about whether or not glass was damaged, but the reason they were able to find the group not guilty was because the case was in fact about health, justice and care in an unprecedented time of irreparable harms done to our living planet and to our human family around the world.’  

According to the group, JP Morgan is the ‘world’s biggest funder of fossil fuels’, investing $384.2 billion into the sector between the signing of the Paris Climate Agreement in 2015 and the time of the action in 2022.  

The defendants’ first trial for the incident in 2024 resulted in a hung jury despite all available defences being withdrawn prior to the trial. This time, the jury was unanimous in acquitting each member of the group. 

In his closing statement, Dr Hart, who represented himself in the trial, told jurors the actions were ‘driven by a deep sense of care’. 

Following yesterday’s verdict, Dr McKelvey said: ‘It was intended as a message to JP Morgan that their investments in fossil fuels are a harm to health now and in the future.

‘We are delighted that the jury acquitted us unanimously; it effectively vindicates the message that life should come before profit.’ 

Health for XR has staged 10 protests against JP Morgan since 2021, including staging ‘die-ins’ at climate conferences, gluing themselves to the windows of its offices, and displaying a banner criticising the bank at Lord’s cricket ground. 

Last year Dr Hart was suspended for 10 months by a medical practitioners tribunal for disabling petrol pumps at an Esso petrol station on the M25 in August 2022 as part of a Health for XR protest. He had also been sentenced to a year’s imprisonment for the same incident in January last year.