High Court ruling delays Palestine protest case

A court case involving four pro-Palestine protesters has been postponed, following a High Court ruling on the Palestine Action group.

The four defendants had been due to enter a plea at the Old Bailey, accused of causing more than £1m damage to a defence manufacturer's factory.

But the hearing on Friday came shortly after the High Court ruled a decision to ban Palestine Action as a terror group was unlawful.

Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb agreed to a request from the defendants' counsel to put off the plea hearing, allow them time to consider the ruling.

Iain Evans, 32, Hisham Alkhamesi, 23, Bea Sherman, 23, and Hana Yun Stevens, 23, are each charged with a single count of criminal damage on 26 August 2025.

It is alleged the four, named online as Palestinian Martyrs, climbed onto the roof of the Moog Aircraft Group factory in Pendeford, Wolverhampton, on 26 August 2025.

Staffordshire Police said significant damage was caused to a number of skylights and solar panels.

A video released on social media showed the group ram through gates in a four-wheel drive vehicle before letting off a red flare and climbing a ladder.

In the video, one of the activists said: "We are Palestinian Martyrs for Justice and each of us here today on the roof of Moog are wearing a T-shirt of one of the martyrs that have been murdered by Israel in the genocide."

The group said the company was targeted because it supplies equipment fitted on F-35 fighter jets used by the Israeli government to bomb Palestinians in Gaza.

Evans, from Shipley, West Yorkshire, Alkhamesi, of Hinckley, Lincolnshire, Sherman, of Hassocks, West Sussex, and Stevens, of south-west London, all appeared on Friday via video link from custody.

Agreeing to the request for a delay, the judge said: "I do not want to prevent the defence raising an argument that is not right and proper to raise. I am prepared to adjourn the hearing until the next terrorism list on 27 February."

The four were remanded in custody and face a possible three-week trial at Birmingham Crown Court, starting on 8 June, before a High Court judge.

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