Animal rights protesters target King Charles after being found guilty of damaging Buckingham Palace fountain

Louis McKechnie, 23, Christopher Bennett, 27, Riley Ings, 27, Claire Smith, 26, and Rachel Steele, 48, were all convicted of the crime at Southwark Crown Court after a near-eight-hour deliberation by a jury.

After the verdict, the 23-year-old McKechnie - part of Animal Rebellion - raged at the King for not taking action to call for a "plant-based food system" as he accused Charles of "barking the right stuff" but not "biting".

McKechnie said he was "relatively unsurprised" at the verdicts, and labelled the UK's justice system "rigged" after his conviction.

He added: "I don't feel any guilt for my actions, but I don't expect the courts to actually be about justice and truth... It's about maintaining the status quo and it has effectively done that."

The 23-year-old also said the five's message to the King was to "call for a plant-based food system if you really care about any of the things you claim to".

He said: "We did this because we think the Royal Family still has a responsibility to this day to step up and show true leadership.

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"If Charles claims to be, you know, a climate-conscious King, he's got to show it, surely.

"He barks the right stuff, but where is his bite? I'm not seeing it... It starts with calling for a plant-based food system.

"King Charles, that's our message to him: Call for a plant-based food system if you really care about any of the things you claim to."

The activists had stormed the fountain on August 26, 2021, dyeing its water red and letting off smoke flares as they accused the Royal Family of sponsoring a "royal bloodbath".

Prosecutor Ailsa McKeon said in a closing speech on Friday: "There is no dispute that red dye was in fact added to the water on that day and all of them have accepted that they intended for that water to be turned red... to create the impression of a bloodbath.

"What they each deny is that they intended or were reckless as to causing any damage and in fact that damage was caused at all."

The court heard previously that the fountain, which is cleaned once a month, received an emergency clean at an extra cost after the protest.

Michael Robert Turner, an assistant manager for Royal Parks at the time of the incident, had previously told the jury the marble is "porous" - and there had been a risk the dye would seep in and stain the stone if it was not immediately cleaned.

But Laura Stockdale, defending Steele and Bennett, argued the dye was designed to be added to bodies of water, including fountains, and Royal Parks "could have just left the red dye in the water to weaken as time passed".

She claimed turning the water red did not interfere with the structure of the monument nor affect its value.

Stockdale added: "The most that the Crown can sensibly say is that it affected the aesthetics... But, members of the jury, isn't that just subjective? Is that really damage?"

The quintet of activists all denied one count each of criminal damage before the verdict. They will be sentenced on October 18.