Palestine Action protesters await potential retrial

Five Palestine Action protesters have been released on bail ahead of a potential retrial over a break-in at a UK subsidiary of an Israeli defence firm.

Charlotte Head, 29, Samuel Corner, 23, Leona Kamio, 30, Fatema Rajwani, 21, Zoe Rogers, 22, and Jordan Devlin, 31, were cleared on Wednesday of aggravated burglary after Elbit Systems building near Bristol was targeted in a raid in the early hours of 6 August 2024.

They were also charged with criminal damage and violent disorder but the jury reached partial or no verdicts on those counts, for which they could face a retrial.

Corner was the only one of defendants who was denied bail. Their next hearing will begin on 18 February.

The jury at Woolwich Crown Court had been deliberating for more than 36 hours after a trial that began in November 2025.

Rajwani, Rogers and Devlin were found not guilty of violent disorder. No verdict was reached for charges of violent disorder for Head, Corner and Kamio.

Corner was accused of causing grievous bodily harm with intent by striking police sergeant Kate Evans in her back with a sledgehammer. The jury was unable to reach a verdict on this charge.

About 100 people have gathered outside the court to celebrate the five defendants' release.

Palestine Action allege Elbit Systems UK is involved in the manufacture and supply of weapons to the Israeli military - a claim the company strongly denies.

The group denied any intention to be violent, despite allegations from prosecutors that they had carried in sledgehammers to fight security guards.

They said they had defended themselves when security officers over-reacted. None of the security officers are under criminal investigation.

During the trial, the court heard Head, a charity worker, drove a prison van into the site's perimeter fence before the vehicle was used as a "battering ram" to get inside the factory.

In what Head described as "the craziest 20 minutes" of her life, the six defendants 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 and added the defendants were "completely out of their depth".

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, which set out the principle of "jury equity" – the capacity of a jury to return a verdict according to conscience. They said police officers had been taking the posters down but they kept reappearing.

The judge advised the jury to avoid being "influenced by anything that happens outside court" and to return true verdicts based on the evidence given in court.

He added: "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."

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

The break-in happened before Palestine Action was proscribed by the government on 5 July 2025.

Supporting the group is now classed as a criminal offence, with membership or expressing support for it punishable by up to 14 years in prison.

Additional reporting by Levi Jouavel

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