Activists who climbed The Kelpies to face trial for 'endangering people'

Two climate activists are to face trial, accused of endangering drivers and members of the public by climbing to the top of The Kelpies horses heads statues near Grangemouth.

Hannah Taylor, 23, and Lewis Conroy, 22, are said to have “climbed 98 feet to the top of a Kelpies statue and displayed a large banner there”, refusing to leave when requested by police.

It is further alleged they dropped a can to the ground, endangering people below, and caused drivers on the nearby M9 to brake suddenly, to the danger of road users.

At Falkirk Sheriff Court, Taylor, of Dronfield Woodhouse in Derbyshire, and Conroy, of Stirling, pleaded not guilty to charges of criminal trespass and culpable and reckless conduct.

Sheriff Garry Sutherland postponed trial to December 19 on the prosecution’s request, to allow video evidence to be disclosed.

Taylor and Conroy’s bail was continued and they were also ordered to appear at a procedural hearing on December 6.

The incident is said to have occurred on July 23 this year.

At the time, activists from This Is Rigged said they had scaled the 100ft steel equine sculptures between Falkirk and Grangemouth at 5am as part of action targeted at the fossil fuel industry in Scotland.

They said they would “not be lured underwater” by the fossil fuel industry, a reference to Scottish folklore which held that “kelpies” were shape-shifting creatures that charmed young children before drowning them.