Aristocrat, 26, whose birthday party at family’s Perthshire estate featured in Tatler magazine joined pro-Palestinian activists to spray red paint on London HQ of Israeli defence firm, court hears
- Doone Stormonth Darling accused of attacking Elbit Systems in London last year
- Stormonth Darling, and 4 others, used paint-filled fire extinguishers paint it
- Was in protest at the presence of the defence company’s office at 77 Kingsway
- Elbit Systems is an Israel-based international defence electronics company
Doone Stormonth Darling, 26, (pictured) is accused of attacking the outside of Elbit Systems’ central London headquarters on 10 October last year
An aristocrat who joined a gang of pro-Palestinian protestors to spray red paint at the door of an Israeli defence contractor’s office has appeared in court.
Doone Stormonth Darling, 26, is accused of attacking the outside of Elbit Systems’ central London headquarters on 10 October last year.
Stormonth Darling – and four others aged 25 to 56 – used paint-filled fire extinguishers to damage the buildings in protest at the presence of the defence company’s office at 77 Kingsway.
Stormonth Darling’s family live on a vast estate in Perthshire and she was featured in upper class magazine Tatler when she held her 21st birthday party there.
The estate was once occupied by Robin Stormonth Darling, a stockbroker and City regulator.
Elbit Systems is an Israel-based international defence electronics company.
Stormonth Darling, Flora Thomas, 26, Joley Thomas, 29, Anthony Bardos, 56 and Jocelyn Cooney, 25, all face one count of criminal damage to ‘property and clothing’ valued under £5,000 and conspiracy to destroy or damage such property.
Damla Ayas, prosecuting, told Highbury Corner Magistrates’ Court: ‘On 10 October a large scale operation with several people involved.
‘There are subsequent cases outstanding due to appear in court in March.
‘Protest groups have attended and occupied the roof of the factory building of Elbit.
‘There were spray fire extinguishers filled with red paint and they were carrying tubs filled with red paint.
Stormonth Darling – and four others aged 25 to 56 – used paint-filled fire extinguishers to damage the buildings in protest at the presence of the defence company’s office at 77 Kingsway. Pictured: Paint outside Elbit Systems’ offices in September 2020, just weeks before Stormonth Darling and four others allegedly launched a similar attack
Stormonth Darling, Flora Thomas, 26, (left) Joley Thomas, 29, (right) Anthony Bardos, 56 and Jocelyn Cooney, 25, all face one count of criminal damage to ‘property and clothing’ valued under £5,000 and conspiracy to destroy or damage such property
‘It has caused criminal damage to the building in question.’
Elbit Systems describes itself as an ‘international high technology company engaged in a wide range of defence, homeland security and commercial programs’.
They sell military hardware such as remote control drones, known as Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), to military forces across the globe.
It has courted controversy in the past, notably for accusations that one of its subsidiaries – Cyberbit – sold and operated spyware that targeted Ethiopian dissidents and journalists in 2017.
Stormonth Darling, of Lambeth, Flora Thomas, of Frome, Somerset, Joley Thomas, of Edmonton, north London, Anthony Bardos, of Reading, Berkshire, and Jocelyn Cooney, of Charlton, southeast London, entered no pleas to criminal damage and conspiracy to destroy property.
Stormonth Darling was bailed with the condition she does not enter Kingsway, Holborn, ahead of a Plea and Trial Preparation Hearing at Southwark Crown Court on 2 April.
The remaining defendants will be dealt with this afternoon.