Activist with vandal kit planned to sabotage Boris and Carrie Johnson's wedding by spraying 'Palestine' on lawn, court hears

See more Daily Mail on Google - save us as a Preferred Source Published: 11:29 EDT, 7 September 2026 | Updated: 12:52 EDT, 7 September 2026 An activist with a vandal kit plotted to sabotage Boris and Carrie Johnson’s wedding by spraying ‘Palestine’ on the venue lawn, a court heard.Tim Speers, 41, had spray paint, boiler suits and super glue at the 1,500-acre Cotswold estate of the Conservative Party donor Lord Anthony Bamford.He told a friend he was carrying out the vandalism under the direction of Palestine Action, which has since been proscribed in the UK and was recently described as a ‘global terrorist organisation’ by Donald Trump.Speers is accused of agreeing to spray the word ‘Palestine’ across the lawn of Daylesford House on July 29, 2022 - a day before the wedding celebrations took place.But he was caught by police officers stationed at the indoor riding school of the Grade I listed country retreat, who said he ‘looked out of place’ and ‘scruffy’ while drinking a can of Foster’s beer.The private event was being protected by police officers as part of Operation Pyrenees - a two-day policing exercise designed to keep Boris and his wife safe.Christiaan Moll, prosecuting, said the foiled stunt was designed to be high-profile to grab the attention of the public.In a voice note heard by the court Speers told a friend: ‘Palestine Action just got in contact with me a couple of hours ago, and they’ve asked me to do an action, which I’ve agreed to do... Tim Speers allegedly targeted Boris and Carrie Johson's wedding reception in the Cotwolds'So I said I’d do that. So basically they’re looking for like people to film it cos (sic) like obviously it will be trespass potential like an arrestable thing.‘But obviously through the court system it will be a complete piece of p**s to justify a case like you know, it will be so simple in my opinion just to obviously like will totally justify doing this’.When Speers was arrested, officers found a piece of paper with ‘Media Team’ written down on it stashed inside a copy of the book ‘Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind’.Speers, from Bude in Cornwall, denies one count of having articles with intent to destroy or damage property and is on trial at Southwark Crown Court.Jurors heard that a second man Sean Middlebrough was also arrested at the country estate where Boris, now 62, and Carrie, 38, partied.Middlebrough will be tried separately after he failed to attend the trial.The court heard Speers targeted Lord Bamford’s home because he is the chairman of the diggers company JCB, which he claims is responsible for knocking down Palestinian houses.Mr Moll added: ‘Just prior to encountering the police they had had a conversation with a security guard on the Estate, Leigh Wombwell, who asked them both what they were doing. Boris and Carrie held the celebration of their wedding day in the grounds of the country estate The Grade I listed home Daylesford House which is near Stow-on-the-Wold in Gloucestershire‘One of them said “It’s none of your business anyway what we are doing”.’Jurors were told inside Speers’ rucksack there were two cans of line marker paint in red and white, and a can of black, very-high temperature paint, plus some super-glue.Mr Moll said: ‘This suggested to the officer that the two men might be in the area to cause disruption and create some media attention or form a protest of some kind.’Daylesford House has a pool, an organic farm and an 18th century orangery.The trial before Judge Usha Karu continues.