AN activist from Berkshire glued himself to the frame of a copy of Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper.

Simon Bramwell, of Twyford, along with four others has been charged with causing £180 of criminal damage to the artwork’s frame during the Just Stop Oil (JSO) protest at the Royal Academy of Arts in Piccadilly, central London, on July 5 last year.

The 50-year-old along with Jessica Agar, 22, Caspar Hughes, 51, Lucy Porter, 47 and Tristan Strange, 40 said they were ‘very careful’ not to damage the £3.6 million painting, City of London Magistrates’ Court heard on Tuesday.

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The defendants are also accused of causing £539.40 of damage to a nearby sofa.

Hughes has admitted he spray-painted ‘No New Oil’ in white letters on a wall under the painting, which depicts the scene when Jesus announced that one of his 12 apostles would betray him while dining with them before he was crucified.

At the gallery, the campaigners were calling for the Government to halt new oil and gas licences in the UK and for the directors, employees and members of art institutions to join the JSO protests.

Payton Goodred-Vaucrosson, for Porter, Agar and Strange, suggested the glue damage to the frame was ‘insignificant or trivial’ and claimed a leather conservationist’s invoice for repairs to the sofa contained ‘a litany of issues not specific to the glue damage’.

Bramwell, who along with Hughes was self-representing, also suggested that the damage to the frame was ‘temporary in nature’ and he denied damaging the sofa.

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Agar, of Royston in Hertfordshire, Hughes, of Exeter in Devon, and Porter, of Malvern in Worcestershire were all present in court while Strange, of Swindon, appeared via video link.

Cross-examining Strange, prosecutor Robert Simpson said: “When you are using substances such-like super glue and spray paint, there is a much greater chance that something might go wrong, isn’t there?

“And the consequences of those things going wrong are much greater when you are dealing with a high-value, old master painting.”

Strange denied that they acted recklessly saying ‘any damage caused was temporary, minimal’ and has since been ‘completely removed’.

She said the stunt was intended to ‘raise awareness around the catastrophic crisis that we are facing’.

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Da Vinci created The Last Supper in the 1490s, and the RA’s full-size copy of it was painted by one or more of his pupils.

The trial is due to continue today.