Protester in court for helping someone put sticker on window

A housing protester accused of causing £50 of criminal damage by helping someone else put a sticker on a window has been cleared in court.

Lisa McKenzie was arrested after she took part in a demonstration against so-called “poor doors” in London in February, The Guardian reported.

The developer of a block of luxury flats in the east of the city had been forced to include social housing by the local planning department, but created different entrances for the wealthier and poorer occupants of the building.

Under a controversial legal doctrine known as “joint enterprise”, Ms McKenzie, a research fellow at the London School of Economics, was accused of helping an unknown person, who was wearing a mask, put a sticker on a window of the building during the protest. This was said to have caused £50 of criminal damage. She was further accused of causing alarm and distress and also acting with intent to cause alarm and distress.

After the case was thrown out at Stratford Magistrates Court, Ms McKenzie told The Guardian: “They said it [the sticker] caused £50 worth of criminal damage because the window had to be cleaned.

“My counsel argued that there was no damage at all. The £50 of damage was not actually done because the builders next door had pulled the sticker off.”

Under “joint enterprise”, people can be prosecuted for someone else’s crime if it is decided that they were acting together with the same purpose.