A group of six Palestine Action activists have all been found not guilty of aggravated burglary in connection with a break-in at the Elbit Systems factory in 2024.
Charlotte Head, 29, Samuel Corner, 23, Leona Kamio, 30, Fatema Rajwani, 21, Zoe Rogers, 22, and Jordan Devlin, 31, hugged in the docks as the verdict was announced.
The break-in, which they were accused of participating in, occurred in the early hours of August 6, 2024, at the Israeli defence contractor’s site near Bristol.
All six were acquitted of aggravated burglary and jurors at Woolwich Crown Court found Rajwani, Rogers and Devlin not guilty of violent disorder.
The jury deliberated for 36 hours and 34 minutes but could not reach a verdict for charges of criminal damage against any of the six defendants, or on the charges of violent disorder against Head, Corner and Kamio.
The jury also did not reach a verdict on the charge against Corner of causing grievous bodily harm with intent, relating to the alleged assault of a security guard at the site.
The Crown Prosecution Service will now consider whether to request a second trial to examine the unresolved charges.
All of the defendants except 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 they used were solely for destroying property and were not “in any circumstances intended to injure security staff”.
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, told the court during the trial that the defendants had not expected to encounter security guards and were “completely out of their depth”.
Palestine Action, which was subsequently proscribed as a terrorist organisation by the Home Office (a designation which is under judicial review), claims that Elbit is involved in the manufacture and supply of arms to Israeli military, which the company denies.
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”.
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