Four Palestine Action raiders were jailed in Britain after causing £1.2 million in damage at a UK site belonging to Elbit Systems, an Israel-based defense firm.
Charlotte Head, 30, Samuel Corner, 23, Leona Kamio, 30, and Fatema Rajwani, 21, were convicted of criminal damage in a retrial after breaking into the Elbit Systems factory near Bristol in August 2024.
Footage of the clashes inside the Elbit factory in Bristol
(Video: Sky News)
Corner was sentenced to seven years and eight months in prison for criminal damage and inflicting grievous bodily harm on a police sergeant. The judge, Mr Justice Johnson, said Corner had no justification for the “extreme and gratuitous force” used.
Head, who drove the prison van into the compound, was sentenced to five years in prison. Kamio also received a five-year sentence, while Rajwani was sentenced to four years and eight months.
The offenders will not qualify for early release provisions. The Parole Board will assess their risk to the public before deciding when they can be freed. All four will also serve an additional year on license in the community at the end of their prison terms.
The case is believed to be the first time convictions for criminal damage have been classified as connected to terrorism. The judge said their actions had been aimed at influencing the government.
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Charlotte Head, Leona Kamio and Fatema Rajwani, who were jailed over the Elbit factory break-in
(Photo: PA)
Johnson said two of the raiders livestreamed the raid and posted the footage on social media as part of an effort to “glorify criminality and vigilantism.” He said they had been “reckless” about who could be injured and had been heavily involved in organizing the raid, with a right of veto over each part of the plan.
Corner, a former Oxford student, was also convicted of causing grievous bodily harm after he fractured Sgt. Kate Evans’ spine with a sledgehammer during the raid.
Evans held back tears as she read an impact statement to the court, saying she was still receiving medical treatment and had been forced to give up her rank after struggling with the aftermath of the attack.
“The emotional impact of this incident has been profound and ongoing,” she said. “I experience disturbed sleep, often waking in a panicked state or after distressing dreams.”
She told the court that Corner showed “no sign of shock or regret” after hitting her and had tried to “justify his actions with baseless and offensive claims that [she] was complicit in genocide.”
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Pro-Palestinian protest outside the London court where the Elbit factory raiders were sentenced
(Photo: PA)
In a statement after sentencing, Avon and Somerset Police Chief Constable Sarah Crew said: “What happened that night changed the life of one of our officers. For Sgt. Evans, this has been deeply personal, painful and lasting.”
“It is important everyone realises that behind every uniform is an ordinary person,” she added. “Someone with a family, with responsibilities, and a life beyond the job.”
Rajiv Menon KC, the barrister representing Head and leading for all the defendants, previously told the court that the prosecution’s request to treat the case as having a terrorism connection “undermines the integrity of the criminal justice system and amounts to chilling and creeping authoritarianism.”
“It would be wholly wrong and unfair for this court to reach any conclusions as to the reasons or underlying motivations of the defendants in doing what they did given the prosecution applied for that evidence to be excluded,” he said.
Menon noted that Head had been cleared of aggravated burglary during the first trial, while prosecutors later dropped a charge of violent disorder before the second trial proceeded only on the criminal damage charge.
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Armed with a 5-kilogram sledgehammer, the pro-Palestinian raiders clash with police at the factory
He said it would be unprecedented for a defendant to be sentenced on the basis of a terrorism connection after being found guilty of a nonviolent offense. Menon added that it would be “laughable” if any Palestine Action raider actually believed direct action would achieve the group’s stated aim of shutting Elbit down.
He said the raiders involved in the break-in wanted to destroy equipment they believed would be sent to Israel and used against Palestinians.
Deanna Heer KC, for the Crown Prosecution Service, said the criminal damage at the Elbit factory had a “terrorism connection.”
Under UK law, a person convicted of a standard offense can receive a longer sentence if the court rules that the way the crime was committed meets the legal definition of terrorism. The UK definition includes serious violence or serious property damage carried out to influence a government or a section of the public in order to advance an ideological cause.
About 500 protesters gathered outside the court earlier in support of Palestine Action. The Metropolitan Police said 107 people were arrested and taken into custody.
Shortly after Johnson finished his remarks, police issued a dispersal order requiring protesters to leave the area. A few hundred remained, and some lay down in the road to block a prison van believed to be carrying the defendants.
Dozens of police officers surrounded the van as protesters banged on its side and tried to open the door. Metropolitan Police Territorial Support Group officers were called in to remove the protesters, and the van was eventually able to drive away.
Palestine Action was proscribed as a terrorist organization by the British government in July last year. The move was declared unlawful by the High Court in February, but the group remains proscribed while the legal process continues.