Playmate, witch and now eco warrior trying to shut down Heathrow

ONE of the organisers of a mass protest trying to shut down a Heathrow terminal is a former soft-porn model turned witch.

Thousands of anti-aviation activists are expected to descend on Heathrow on Monday in an attempt to occupy Terminal 1, causing chaos for passengers.

They are protesting against the airport's proposed expansion - the Government is widely expected to give the go-ahead for a third runway next week.

The Evening Standard can reveal today that a leading member of protest group Climate Rush is a former Playboy playmate of the month.

Marina Pepper, 41, a mother of two, has been active in rallying support for Monday's demonstration. Last month, she formed a delegation from Climate Rush which lobbied MPs in Westminster urging them to back Monday's protest. The group was founded by 23-year-old Tamsin Omond, a Cambridge graduate who was convicted last year over a rooftop protest on the Palace of Westminster.

Mrs Pepper began her glamour-modelling career as a Sun Page 3 girl aged 17 - when her name was Marina Baker - and was Playboy playmate of the Month in 1987 at the age of 19. Her entry on Wikipedia describes her as a "bisexual witch" who once had a relationship with public relations guru Matthew Freud. She left modelling in her twenties and became a journalist, working in the mid-Nineties for the Standard. It was while covering the protests over the plans to build a bypass at Newbury for this paper that she became committed to the environmental cause.

Mrs Pepper is a Liberal Democrat town councillor in Telscombe, East Sussex, and stood as a Lib-Dem parliamentary candidate in the last general election. She has also written books on witchcraft.

Asked if it was unusual for a former Playboy playmate to head an environmental campaign group, Mrs Pepper told the Standard today: "There are less than a handful of women in the UK who have ever been Playboy centrefolds. The thing is there are people from all walks of life who understand the science and want something to happen.

"Monday's protest will be peaceful and law-abiding. There is a slight touch of polite disobedience. We need to speak out in the only way we can which is peacefully and forcefully."

The Climate Rush demonstration follows a protest against Parliament late last year which led to a stand-off between campaigners and police.

In an interview today, Colin Matthews, chief executive of BAA which owns Heathrow, insisted expansion was vital but admitted he took "no pleasure" from "stirring up people's lives". Part of a village will have to be demolished to make way for a third runway and the extra noise risks blighting many more homes.

Monday's protest has already garnered the support of more than 1,000 people on Facebook. The organisers - who believe domestic and short-haul flights should be banned - will distribute a list of ways to penetrate Terminal 1, fearful that BAA will try to stop non-travellers entering.

At 7pm, protesters, at least some of whom will wear Edwardian costume in homage to the suffragettes, will stage a sit-in beginning surreally with a "peaceful picnic" accompanied by a string quartet. An art collective will also stage an impromptu exhibition. Mrs Pepper said: "This Climate Rush event is going to be big. People are waking up to the idea enough is enough."