Skip to content

Single guilty verdict in Palestine Action trial

Getty Images The Elbit Systems UK factory in Filton, near Bristol. There are metal gates blocking access to the building, which is white and grey. Getty Images
The Elbit Systems UK factory in Filton, near Bristol, was raided on 6 August 2024

A jury has been discharged after reaching a single guilty verdict in the trial of eight Palestine Action activists who were accused of helping to organise a raid on the UK site of an Israel-based defence firm

The jury at the Old Bailey spent more than 37 hours considering evidence, but failed to reach verdicts on 14 of 15 charges relating to the raid at the Elbit Systems Ltd factory in Filton, near Bristol, in August 2024.

One guilty verdict, for criminal damage, was passed on Tuesday, but the defendant cannot be named for legal reasons.

Prosecutors will now consider seeking a retrial for the unresolved charges - but any trial could be a year away due to backlogs in the Crown Courts.

Palestine Action members broke into the Elbit Systems Ltd factory on 6 August 2024 and their own footage shows they began destroying equipment, including drones, which they believe were destined for use by the Israeli Defence Forces in Gaza.

The firm has contracts with the British military and other Nato members and has previously said that claims that its Bristol factory supplies Israeli forces is "completely false".

The defendants, who must now wait to see if they face a retrial, are:

  • Ian Sanders, 47, of Leamington Spa
  • Aleksandra Herbich, 42, of Brent in north-west London
  • Teuta Hoxha, 30, of Southwark in south-east London
  • Sean Middleborough, 34, of Liverpool
  • Julija Brigadirova, 34, from Chorlton in Manchester
  • Hannah Davidson, 53, of Edinburgh
  • Madeleine Norman, 31, of Edinburgh
  • William Plastow, 35, of Manchester

The Old Bailey trial was opened on 22 June and all eight defendants had denied charges of criminal damage and violent disorder.

During the case, Plastow, 35, was cleared of violent disorder.

The court heard none of the defendants were at Elbit during raid, but were alleged to have helped to plan it, including by compiling an equipment list, carrying out reconnaissance, purchasing tools and weapons used by others, and co-ordinating other elements of the break-in - such as filming the incident.

Four people have already been convicted and jailed for their roles in the break-in and the eight defendants in this second trial were not part of that on-the-ground team.

Judge Patrick Field KC discharged the Old Bailey jury on Wednesday, the day after it convicted one of the defendants of criminal damage by a majority of nine to one, but reached no other decisions.

The jury was first sent out on 6 August.

The Crown Prosecution Service will now need to decide whether to seek a retrial.

A hearing has been set for 14 September to decide the future of the case.

Follow BBC Bristol on Facebook, X and Instagram. Send your story ideas to us on email or via WhatsApp on 0800 313 4630.