Palestine Action activists in Elbit site break-in cleared of aggravated burglary

Six Palestine Action activists have been cleared of committing aggravated burglary over a break-in at an Israel-based defence firm’s UK site.

Charlotte Head, Samuel Corner, Leona Kamio, Fatema Rajwani, Zoe Rogers and Jordan Devlin faced trial at Woolwich Crown Court over allegations they used or threatened unlawful violence and used sledgehammers as weapons after a prison van was driven into Elbit Systems’ Bristol factory.

All six were acquitted of aggravated burglary and jurors found Ms Rajwani, Ms Rogers and Mr Devlin not guilty of violent disorder.

The jury deliberated for 36 hours and 34 minutes but could not reach verdicts for charges of criminal damage against all six defendants.

No verdict was reached in the allegation that Mr Corner, 23, inflicted grievous bodily harm on Police Sergeant Kate Evans, or on the charges of violent disorder against Ms Head, Mr Corner, and Ms Kamio.

The six activists hugged each other in the dock as a dozen of their supporters cheered from the public gallery above.

Before the verdicts were delivered, Mr Justice Johnson told jurors: “You said that you believe that you can go no further than you have got to already, and that no amount of time can make any material difference.”

The foreman agreed, and the judge said in that case: “I’m not going to ask you to deliberate any further.”

Tensions were rising in the jury room towards the end of last week, the court heard.

On Wednesday, shortly before they returned with the verdicts, the judge said: “One of your notes last week indicated that your discussions were getting a little intense towards the end of the week.”

The judge added that is “entirely understandable” when working through “a great deal of evidence” to find agreement between at least 10 people on 19 counts.

They were reminded not to “feel any pressure of time”, but the judge asked them to let him know if reaching verdicts starts to feel “impossible”.

After the hearing a spokesperson for Defend Our Juries said: “These verdicts are a huge blow to government ministers who have tried to portray Palestine Action as a violent group to justify banning it under badly drafted terrorism legislation.”

They said Palestine Action “never advocated causing harm to people” and their “aim was always to save lives by causing damage to companies like Elbit Systems whose made-in-Britain quadcopter drones have been killing innocent civilians in Gaza.”

Footage played to jurors showed the six wearing red jumpsuits during the demonstration in the early hours of August 6, 2024.

Prosecutors said the six tried to “cause as much damage as possible and obtain information about the company”.

In body-worn footage from one of the security guards, shown to jurors, three of the defendants approached him and shouted at him to “f*** off”, with one holding a lighted flare and two others brandishing sledgehammers.

All of the defendants except Mr Devlin gave evidence, telling jurors they had entered the factory without permission and damaged Elbit’s equipment including computers and drones.

They told jurors the sledgehammers were solely for destroying property and were not “in any circumstances intended to injure security staff”.

The court heard the defendants had not planned to use violence in the action.

At around 3.30am on August 6 2024, Ms Head, a charity worker, drove a prison van into the site’s perimeter fence and then used the vehicle “as a battering ram” to get into the factory, their trial heard.

In what Ms Head called “the craziest 20 minutes of my life”, the six carried out their action before being arrested by police.

Prosecutors alleged that as security guards tried to stop the activists, the guards were sworn at and told to leave, had sledgehammers swung at them and were whipped, while one was sprayed with a foam fire extinguisher.

Rajiv Menon KC, defending, said they had not expected security guards to enter the factory during their action, adding the defendants were “completely out of their depth”.

The trial heard the defendants “genuinely believed” their demonstration at the factory would help the Palestinian cause in Gaza.

The judge thanked jurors for their “very long period of jury service” on the trial, which lasted about 12 weeks.

They were sworn in on November 17 and sent out to deliberate on January 13 before returning verdicts on February 4, though several days of deliberation were missed due to ill jurors.

He relieved them of jury duty for the next ten years, given how long they served, saying: “If you are summonsed in the next 10 years you will have a ‘get out of jury free card’ to use.”

While the jury was in retirement, the court heard posters had been put up on bus stops and lampposts near the building which said “The jury decide not the judge”, “Jury equity is when a jury acquits someone on moral grounds”, and: “Jurors can give a not guilty verdict even when they believe a defendant has broken the law”.

The prosecution said it was aware of the signs being put up in public places during the trial which set out the principle of “jury equity” – the capacity of a jury to return a verdict according to conscience – and that police had been taking the posters down.

“The way that we have been dealing with it is asking the local police to remove them from bus stops, lampposts, but they keep reappearing,” Deanna Heer KC told the judge.

One juror sent an email to the court flagging they had seen the displays, saying it seemed someone was “trying to influence the jury and their decisions”.

Hours before Wednesday’s verdict, the judge said: “I’m aware that notices are being displayed in various places in the local area, I think on the route from Plumstead to court and perhaps in other places, which might appear to be intended to influence you, the jury.

“They obviously weren’t put up by any of the defendants and it’s obviously not something that should be held against any of the defendants.”