Palestine Action: Aggravated burglary charges dropped against 18 defendants
Eighteen defendants allegedly involved in a Palestine Action raid on an Israeli-owned arms factory in the UK will no longer face charges of aggravated burglary, after six others were acquitted of the same charges.
Following the decision to drop the charges, five of the defendants – William Plastow, Ian Sanders, Madeline Norman, Julia Brigadirova and Aleksandra Herbich – were granted conditional bail.
Plastow, Sanders and Norman have been held on remand for the longest period of the 18- spending 18 months in prison. Birgadirova and Herbich has been imprisoned since November 2024.
Bail applications for another eight defendants will be held on Friday.
At Woolwich Crown Court in London on Wednesday, prosecutor Deanna Heer KC said the Crown Prosecution Service had "reconsidered the sufficiency of the evidence" and would offer no evidence on that charge.
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The charge, which carries a maximum life sentence, was the most serious that the majority of the defendants were facing.
The 18 will continue to face other charges in connection with the alleged raid.
The move follows the acquittal of six other defendants on charges of aggravated burglary in connection with the same break-in at an Elbit Systems plant near Bristol in August 2024.
Heer confirmed on Wednesday that those six defendants face a retrial planned for 16 February 2027 on charges which had not ended in verdicts, including criminal damage and violent disorder.
Following a months-long trial, on 4 February Leona Kamio, 30, Samuel Corner, 23, Fatema Rajwani, 21, Zoe Rogers, 22, Jordan Devlin, 31, and Charlotte Head, 29, were acquitted of charges of aggravated burglary but jurors failed to return verdicts on a number of counts including criminal damage.
Jurors additionally acquitted Devlin, Rogers and Rajwani of violent disorder, but did not return verdicts on the same charge for Head, Corner and Kamio.
The jury was also hung on charges of criminal damage, and a charge faced by Corner of grievous bodily harm with intent for allegedly striking a police officer with a sledgehammer.
All six defendants face charges of criminal damage.
Kamio, Corner and Head also face charges of violent disorder.
Devlin, Rajwani, Rogers, Kamio and Head were granted bail at a hearing following the verdict, but Corner remains remanded in custody.
They were held for around 18 months on remand - in excess of standard UK pre-trial custody time limits of six months.
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