Six environmental protesters who occupied a tunnel close to Euston station in protest against the HS2 high-speed link earlier this year walked free from court after charges in connection with the occupation were dismissed by a judge. Daniel Hooper, 48, also known as “Swampy”; Dr Larch Maxey, 49; Isla Sandford, 18; Lachlan Sandford, 20; Juliett Stevenson-Clarke, 22; and Scott Breen, 47, faced charges of aggravated trespass at Highbury Corner magistrates court in central London for their 31 days underground in January and February of this year. A separate charge against Maxey of damage to a mobile phone was also dismissed. An HS2 spokesperson said they were “bitterly disappointed” with the outcome of the case. The protesters dug a 100ft tunnel network secretly over a period of months and stored up enough food and water supplies to last throughout the subterranean protest. During the tunnel occupation they spent much of their time digging and shoring up the structure they had created. District judge Susan Williams dismissed the charges in relation to the high-profile protest on the basis that HS2 was not carrying out any construction work on the site at the time the charges were levelled against the protesters. Instead, their aim was to clear the site of protesters and then begin the construction work. She said: “There is no evidence of any constructor or construction taking place on the land at that time.” The subterranean environmental protest lasted for 31 days, one of the longest in UK protest history, although not quite breaking the record of a 40-day tunnel protest in Essex in 2000. The court heard that the disruption to HS2’s work at the Euston site cost about £3.5m. Brett Easter, of high court enforcement, working with HS2 and a specialist in working in confined spaces, used the protesters’ term “Buckingham pallets” to describe the structure the activists erected above the tunnel to conceal it during the covert construction. “It’s a bit of a game of cat and mouse. It was a very high-profile eviction,” he told the court. There were nine activists involved in the tunnel protest, ranging in age from 16 to 48. The two under-18 were not charged and a third activist was unwell and unable to attend this week’s court hearing. All say that the HS2 project is causing environmental damage, including to 108 ancient woodlands. HS2 disputes this and says that according to its assessments, 43 of the country’s 52,000 ancient woodlands will be affected by HS2’s route between London and Crewe, with 80% of the total area of these remaining untouched, meaning just 0.005% of ancient woodland will be lost, a fraction of losses from comparable road projects. The protesters celebrated when they walked free from court and welcomed the judge’s decision to dismiss the case against them. Hooper said: “We shouldn’t have been in court in the first place because HS2 shouldn’t have been happening. Our plan is to stop HS2. Aggravated trespass charges were completely the wrong ones to level against us.” Maxey said: “This is a victory for the right to protest.” Simon Natas, of ITN Solicitors, who represented the protesters, welcomed the judge’s decision. “The protesters always maintained they never committed the offence of aggravated trespass. They have now been vindicated. We are extremely pleased,” he said. An HS2 spokesperson said: “The actions of these illegal trespassers put their own lives at risk, as well as the lives of our staff, agents and those of the emergency service personnel who worked around the clock to ensure the wellbeing of people who placed themselves in such a dangerous situation underground. “This action was an enormous waste of public money, especially during the pandemic, and we are bitterly disappointed that the court has not found fit to convict these individuals for their dangerous and irresponsible actions.”