Palestine protesters jailed for criminal damage

Three pro-Palestine protesters who staged a 16-and-a-half hour rooftop demonstration have each been jailed for 20 months.

Julian Gao, 22, Saeed Najam Shah, 53, and Daniel Jones, 30, used an angle-grinder to cut through a security fence in the early hours of April 2 2024 before causing about £570,000 worth of damage to the roof and interior at Teledyne UK Ltd in Shipley.

The firm has previously been linked to the manufacture of weapons used by the British Army and purchased by other countries, including Israel.

The defendants, along with a fourth - Ruby Hamill, 21 - were found guilty in February of criminal damage and possession of articles with intent to cause criminal damage.

Sentencing them at Bradford Crown Court earlier, Judge Ahmed Nadim said the offending was "deliberate, planned and sustained" and had caused substantial damage to the premises and serious disruption.

The group, who changed into red boiler suits during the protest, were filmed carrying equipment such as sledgehammers, ladders and crowbars as well as flags and banners.

The court heard how emergency services who attended the scene had to put a "containment" plan into action when the protesters refused to come off the roof and drone footage showed them smashing roof tiles and windows.

Gao, of Dalton Ellis Hall in Manchester, Shah, of Reedley Road in Burnley, and Jones, of Rossett Road in Liverpool, were all convicted by a jury at Bradford Crown Court in February, while Hamill, of Emu Road in London, was convicted in her absence and remains wanted by police.

There was spontaneous applause from supporters in the public gallery as the men were taken into custody after Judge Nadim told them the seriousness of the offending meant only immediate prison sentences were appropriate.

Judge Nadim said it was no part of the court's function to evaluate or comment on the moral or ideological merits of the cause.

"The damage caused, amounting to a substantial sum, was deliberately inflicted with the intention of causing maximum disruption," he told the court.

Judge Nadim said the attack had directly affected 100 employees and the site was closed for a week as a result of the damage caused.

He stressed that each defendant was being sentenced for their criminal conduct and not for the beliefs which motivated it.

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