Jurors were told to put their political views on Israel-Palestine aside as they heard evidence about a raid on a defence industry factory in which a female police sergeant had her back broken, allegedly by being attacked by a sledgehammer-wielding activist.
Seven people denied charges of aggravated burglary, criminal damage and violent disorder arising from a remarkable raid on a defence firm in August of last year. The company, Elbit Systems UK, which is said to supply armaments to the Israeli government, saw a prison van used as a battering ram and several police officers and security staff injured during the alleged raid in Patchway, Bristol.
The Woolwich Crown Court heard that Palestine Action activists allegedly used the former prison van to drive through the facility perimeter fence before battering down a loading door of the factory itself. The prosecution told the court the raid was “meticulously organised”, with different teams wearing different-coloured tracksuits: one team assigned to dealing with the guards, while a second was to cause as much havoc in the factory as possible to put it out of work.
The prosecutor said, “When they broke into the premises, they were each armed with a sledgehammer. There is no doubt that these sledgehammers were intended to be used to damage property, but they were also carried as weapons to be used, if necessary, to threaten and damage people.”
As well as the burglary and damage charges, one of the group, 23-year-old Samuel Corner, of Rock Hill, Georgeham, Devon, faces a charge of causing grievous bodily harm with intent in relation to the sledgehammer. The court heard he allegedly struck a female police officer twice, including once when she was already beaten to the ground, breaking her back.
The prosecutor asserted he had struck “a female officer across the back with his sledgehammer while she was on the floor, facing away from him”. While the police-issue stab vest she was wearing may have absorbed the worst of the impact, her spine was fractured, and Police Sergeant Kate Evans was unable to get up. She has been unable to return to full police duties since.
It was further said that fireworks had been shot at security staff and people had been threatened with melee weapons, including a saw and whip, during the raid. Two security officers were injured.
Court News UK reports the trial was shown footage of a security officer calling his colleagues on a walkie-talkie radio, saying: “There’s literally about eight people who’s broken into the warehouse and smashed up the floor… They’ve smashed up the fence in the back, (gone) straight through – fireworks, everything else, now inside the warehouse with sledgehammers, throwing them at everyone basically”.
The presiding judge ordered jurors to set aside their personal views on the rights or wrongs of both Israel and Palestine when considering the evidence. He said: “Many people have strong views about events in the Middle East – some of you might feel that Israel is entitled to do what it has done in Gaza in order to defend itself against Hamas. Others of you may feel that Israel has acted unlawfully, even that it has committed acts of genocide. Everyone is of course fully entitled to their views but you as the jury in this case must put any views you have on those matters entirely to one side – they are completely irrelevant to your consideration of the case.”
Since the Elbit raid, the Palestine Action group has been declared a terrorist organisation by the British government. This is also something jurors had to put out of their minds, the judge said, given the raid took place before the proscription.
The hearings are expected to run until January 2026.
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