Government contractor denied Palestine Action defendants food during trial, families say

The private company charged with the care of Palestine Action defendants during a months-long trial at a UK court denied them food, families say.

Serco, which operates Prisoner Escort and Custody Services (UK PECS) for the Ministry of Justice, handled the transfer and care of defendants during court hearings in a Palestine Action case at Woolwich Crown Court.

On Wednesday, after more than 36 hours of deliberations, jurors at the court acquitted the six defendants - Leona Kamio, 30, Samuel Corner, 23, Fatema Rajwani, 21, Zoe Rogers, 22, Jordan Devlin, 31, and Charlotte Head, 29 - of charges of aggravated burglary.

Families reported that defendants were regularly going without food throughout the proceedings.

They said they were awoken at 5am and suffered long delays while being transferred to court in a prison van.

This meant they missed breakfast, and as the food provided in court was deemed to be of such a poor standard, many only ate on their return to prison at around 9pm.

Clare Hinchcliffe, the mother of defendant Rogers, said she noticed that her daughter was “starving” and “losing weight”, adding that it was difficult enough for her to follow proceedings due to being diagnosed with autistic spectrum condition and ADHD.

Serco offered the defendants ready meals for lunch, but Rogers reported that a tuna pasta she was handed was “black and smelled repulsive”.

Hinchcliffe explained that Rogers has an autism-related eating disorder, preventing her from eating certain foods and first thing in the morning.

“It's not like she can hold her nose and eat it. She can’t tolerate it,” Hinchcliffe said.

In response to a request for comment, Serco told MEE that their staff “treat all defendants with respect and work hard to ensure they are well cared for, with access to food and other essentials”.

The spokesperson added that the firm had worked with HMP Bronzefield to ensure Rogers was provided with food in line with her dietary requirements.

In terms of delays to their transfer services, the company said that it “delivers over 99.8 percent of prisoners to court on time”, adding that delays are “rare” and caused by “multiple factors”, the majority of which are “outside our control”.

The Ministry of Justice said that courts and prisons are required to ensure “access to food that meets dietary requirements, appropriate facilities while attending court, and the ability to consult legal representatives”.

‘They just go without eating’

Hinchcliffe said it was “impossible to speak to Serco directly”, so she contacted HMP Bronzefield to arrange for a packed lunch to be provided for Rogers.

The prison responded quickly, sending a lunch accompanied by a letter of authority from the director of HMP Bronzefield, Charlotte Wilson. But Hinchcliffe reported that Serco refused to hand it to Rogers.

Hinchcliffe said this continued throughout the duration of the trial. As a result, Rogers could only eat upon her return to the prison, causing her to lose around 10 percent of her body weight, according to Hinchcliffe.

Rogers’ lawyer, Audrey Cherryl Mogan, said that Serco gave different reasons for their refusal to hand over her lunch.

“First they said Bronzefield has to provide a letter agreeing - Bronzefield did that. Then it was that it needed to be on the prisoner escort record. Then electronically. Then they said they needed to see the medical evidence themselves,” Mogan told MEE.

“Every time we came to court, Serco would say it had to be done in a different way.”

Mogan noted that she has represented many defendants who say they are unable to eat the food provided in court cells.

“They just go without eating,” she said.

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“Its not that the [Palestine Action defendants] are spoilt. It's just simply because they and their families are not used to the injustice of the prison system, so they fought back.”

Around an hour into giving evidence on 15 December, Rogers reported that she had not had breakfast, and felt like she might pass out.

According to Mogan and Hinchcliffe, Justice Johnson then asked for a banana to be brought for Rogers by court staff, but Serco staff said that their manager had said that the defendant was not allowed to eat it.

Mogan said that the Serco manager was then called into court. 

“The judge said, let her out so she can have the banana in the dock, and the court manager refused to let her out of the cells,” Mogan said.

“All of this is happening in the middle of her evidence for the most serious thing that's ever happened to her.”

The judge then dismissed the court.

“After 45 minutes of evidence, we lost the rest of the day, during which she would have finished her evidence,” Mogan said.

“I do understand that there will be a policy that they're not allowed to just take food from others. I cannot see that they can stop her from being released to have the banana.”

Hinchcliffe reported that Rogers did not eat until 8:30pm that day. 

An MOJ spokesperson told MEE: “Prisoner Escort and Custody Services (PECS) suppliers provide a consistent and established food provision for all prisoners while in PECS custody, including options that meet both standard dietary needs and recognised religious requirements.”

‘Starving has been a consistent theme’

Brogan Devlin, the sister of Jordan Devlin, told MEE that he and Samuel Corner, who are both vegetarian and vegan, were repeatedly told by Serco staff that the court had “run out” of appropriate meals for them.

“Starving [the defendants] has been a consistent theme throughout the trial, this is the most important time of their lives,” Devlin told MEE. 

Devlin said that Serco staff frequently neglected to let the defendants out of their cells for lunch, meaning they would miss the meal.

“They were going entire days without food,” she said.

Devlin also reported that defendants were held for hours in “filthy” cells below the courtroom during the jury’s deliberations.

“Jordan counted five beetles in that cell, the dirt is so thick that they furrow into it,” Devlin told MEE.

'Jordan counted five beetles in that cell, the dirt is so thick that they furrow into it'

- Brogan Devlin, defendant's sister

An MOJ spokesperson said that concerns about the cleanliness of custody suites managed by HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) had been raised in January, and that these were “escalated promptly, with additional cleaning measures put in place”. They added that a deep clean and specialist pest-control inspection were carried out.

Devlin said that, during the months-long trial, her brother had been held, along with Corner, at maximum security prison HMP Belmarsh. She said that Devlin was locked up for 23 hours a day and was only permitted a shower under a six-guard escort.

On one occasion, Devlin was issued a “negative” disciplinary warning by prison guards for asking if he could have a shower.

According to Devlin, both her brother and Corner had to undergo “hours’ of security checks before hearings, for which they had to wake up at 5am. 

Faults with the prison’s booking system also meant that Devlin was unable to receive a visit for weeks during the trial.

An MOJ spokesperson said they did not recognise the claims made about Devlin’s treatment at Belmarsh, adding: “All prisoners are subject to a security regime proportionate to their risk, but must still be treated with dignity, including access to showers, visits, and time out of cell where operationally possible.”

The spokesperson advised that any concerns raised about court custody or prison regimes “are taken seriously and can be investigated through established HMCTS and HMPPS processes”.

Devlin said she had tried to complain to both Serco and the prison, but had got nowhere.

“There's just no accountability, it's just this constant loop,” she told MEE.

Billion-dollar contract

Families note that Serco has a relationship with Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest weapons supplier, whose factory is at the centre of the August 2024 incident that the defendants were being tried over.

Elbit and Serco launched a partnership as part of the Israeli arms firm's failed bid for a £2bn contract with the Ministry of Defence to train British armed forces.

Elbit would have trained some 60,000 British soldiers annually across 15 years, with Serco reportedly involved in providing the local platform and logistics.

In January, the government announced that it had decided not to award the contract, following a 73-day hunger strike by Palestine Action-affiliated prisoners.

Serco did not respond to MEE's request for comment on its relationship with Elbit.