'Palestine Action activist hit officer with hammer'
An alleged Palestine Action member attacked a police officer with a sledgehammer, fracturing her back, during an organised break-in at an Israeli defence firm, a court has heard.
Woolwich Crown Court was told that six people accused of breaking in to Elbit Systems near Bristol had meticulously planned the incident on 6 August 2024 to cause as much damage as possible to the factory.
Charlotte Head, 29, Samuel Corner, 23, Leona Kamio, 30, Fatema Rajwani, 21, Zoe Rogers, 22, and Jordan Devlin, 31, are jointly accused of aggravated burglary, criminal damage and violent disorder.
They deny all charges and Mr Corner denies an additional allegation of causing grievous bodily harm.
Opening the trial on Tuesday, Mr Justice Johnson told jurors that the allegations they would consider predate Palestine Action's proscription under terrorism laws this June. He added that the ban was not for them to consider and was irrelevant to the evidence in this case.
Beginning the prosecution's case, Deanna Heer KC, said that the six defendants had been "willing participants" in a plan to cause damage to the plant, which manufacturers defence technology equipment.
Wearing red jumpsuits and carrying sledgehammers, they used a prison van, allegedly driven by Charlotte Head, to crash through security fencing, before then breaking into the factory itself, the court heard.
Ms Heer told the jury that each of the "red team" carried a sledgehammer to cause damage - but they were also prepared to use them as weapons.
"The evidence demonstrates that all of these defendants used them for that purpose, to threaten or to attack the security guards and to lend support to one another as they did so," she said.
"When the police arrived, as the defendants knew they would, Samuel Corner attacked them, going so far as to strike a female officer, Sgt Kate Evans, across the back with his sledgehammer while she was on the floor, facing away from him."
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