TWO Just Stop Oil (JSO) activists who threw soup over Vincent van Gogh’s Sunflowers painting have been found guilty of criminal damage and told to expect jail time.

Phoebe Plummer and Anna Holland threw two tins of Heinz tomato soup over the painting, which is protected by glass, in October 2022. 

The pair then glued themselves beneath the artwork in an action to demand the then-Tory government halt all new oil and gas projects.

Although Labour agreed with the ban and implemented it when it took government, the two activists have been told to expect prison time.

The trial at Southwark Crown Court was overseen by Judge Christopher Hehir, who handed out record sentences totalling 21 years to five activists from the group this month.

On Thursday, he found the pair guilty of criminal damage exceeding £5,000. 

The National Gallery, where the artwork was displayed, previously said that there was “minor damage” to the frame, but the painting was unharmed.

Judge Hehir told the pair to be “prepared in practical and emotional terms to go to prison” when they are sentenced on September 27.

He also dismissed all legal defences and barred the women from talking about the climate crisis in their evidence to the jury. 

Eight other JSO activists were remanded in custody on Thursday.

They were detained at Heathrow airport on suspicion of conspiring to interfere with a site of key national infrastructure under the Public Order Act.

Two others were bailed following their court appearance with conditions including not going within 1km of an airport without a ticket to travel.

JSO has joined activist groups from 10 other countries in the Oil Kills uprising to demand governments commit to an emergency treaty to end the extraction and burning of fossil fuels by 2030.

About 37 were arrested around the world. All have been released except those in Britain.