Maryam Halcrow, 56, who says she is a witch, Lisa Mead, 52, who identifies as a druid and Angela Grace, 46, entered the circle without reasonable excuse.

Ignoring warnings from police, they stepped over the barriers to touch the megaliths. 

While it is permitted to enter the circle under certain conditions, touching the stones themselves is strictly prohibited.

Judge Simon Cooper, sitting at Swindon Magistrates’ Court, told the trio their human rights under the ECHR were outweighed by future generations’ right to enjoy the site undamaged.

They were given six-month conditional discharges.

Ms Halcrow, a “solitary hedge witch”, who wandered around singing and touching the stones, told the Swindon Advertiser that she and her fellow pagans would be appealing.