Eight activists charged after Crown Jewels and The Ritz targeted

Eight activists have been charged with criminal damage following stunts targeting The Ritz and the Crown Jewels in London last year, the Metropolitan Police has said.

Four people aged between 21 and 66 have been charged after bags of manure were dumped and poured onto the floor of The Ritz Hotel in Piccadilly on 3 December 2025.

A further four people have been charged over a separate incident in which crumble and custard was thrown at a display case containing the Crown Jewels on 6 December 2025.

Take Back Power, which describes itself as a non‑violent civil resistance group, appears to be an offshoot of Just Stop Oil and has previously claimed responsibility for both incidents.

Ellen Redwood-Brown, 23, Tom Barber, 66, Toby Ellwood, 21, and Tjalle Rumley, 26, have all been charged following the incident at The Ritz Hotel.

Fatima Ali, 19, Miriam Cranch, 22, Mack Preston, 22, and Matthew Cooper, 50, face charges relating to the Crown Jewels' incident at the Tower of London.

All of the defendants will appear in court in the next two weeks, police said.

At the time of the Crown Jewels' incident, the group said its activists flung crumble and custard at the display case to demand that the government established a permanent citizen's assembly, or "House of the People", with the power to "tax extreme wealth and fix Britain".

Take Back Power shared footage on social media of the incident, which showed one protester slamming a large foil tray of crumble at the glass. Another then poured a tub of bright yellow custard on the front of the case.

"Democracy has crumbled," one protester could be heard shouting.

Earlier this year, the Metropolitan Police said 15 activists from the group were arrested over alleged plans for "mass shoplifting" in London.

The force said the group had been preparing to steal goods from major supermarkets and redistribute them elsewhere.

In its latest statement, police said another man, 66-year-old David Kilroy from Plymouth, had been charged with theft following an alleged incident of organised shoplifting at a Sainsbury's in Lewisham on 14 March 2026.

He will appear at Bexley Magistrates' Court on 29 April.

Take Back Power emerged on social media channels used by Just Stop Oil activists at the end of 2025. The environmental protest group refers to Take Back Power as a "new project".

Just Stop Oil - responsible for a number of high-profile protests and stunts including throwing soup on Vincent van Gogh's Sunflowers and climbing onto motorway gantries - announced it was ending its use of direct action in March.