Three pro-Palestine protesters have been found guilty of causing criminal damage at a factory they believed had links to Israel.
Hollie Mildenhall, 25, Georgia Coote, 28, and Summer Oxlade, 29 targeted the Pearson Engineering factory in Newcastle in February 2025.
They were found guilty at Newcastle Quayside Crown Court this week.
The trio had chosen Pearson Engineering as a target because it is owned by Israel’s Rafael Advanced Defence Systems.
Mildenhall and Coote climbed onto the roof, cut through razor wire, sprayed the factory’s sign with red paint and smashed it.
Oxlade dumped rubble from a truck outside and chained herself to the vehicle, the court heard.
They caused about £6,800 of damage and production was halted for eight hours.
Prosecutor Michael Bunch said the women were "motivated by compassion and a desperate desire to do something" but that they acted “unlawfully".
All three women told jurors they wanted to prevent the factory from running for as long as possible. They also told the court that they had believed the factory was "complicit" in a "genocide" and that it was contributing to "war crimes", which were "illegal", BBC News reported.
Judge Edward Bindloss said that if the women believed the company had been acting illegally, they "could and should" have collected evidence and reported it to the police.
He added that instead of seeking this “lawful route”, they "decided to take the law into their own hands".
A Pearson representative told the court the factory did not make any supplies bound for the Jewish state.
The three women were found guilty in a unanimous verdict by the jury.
They were released on bail and will be sentenced on April 29.
To get more news, click here to sign up for our free daily newsletter.