Jury refuses to convict seven Palestine Action defendants over Elbit raid
The Palestine Action defendants from left to right – Ian Sanders, Aleksandra Herbich, William Plastow, Hannah Davidson, Teuta Hoxha, Julija Brigadirova, and Madeleine Norman outside the Old Bailey, July 2026
Katherine Hearst reports in Middle East Eye on 19 August 2026:
Jurors at a London court were discharged after being unable to reach verdicts for seven Palestine Action defendants accused of coordinating a raid on an Israeli-owned arms factory.
One person who could not be named for legal reasons was convicted by a majority of 9-1 of criminal damage in relation to the incident.
The defendants- Hannah Davidson, 53, Ian Sanders, 47, Aleksandra Herbich, 41, Teuta Hoxha, 30, William Plastow, 35, Julija Brigadirova, 33, Sean Middlebrough, 33, and Madeleine Norman, 31- were accused of criminal damage and violent disorder in connection with a break-in to an Elbit Systems factory in Filton, near Bristol in August 2024.
But on Wednesday, following an eight-week trial and around 37 hours of deliberations at the Old Bailey, jurors could not reach verdicts for seven of the defendants. They could face a retrial.
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‘Terrorist prisoners’
During the trial, jurors heard that the defendants had been arrested by counter-terrorism police.
Hoxha said when giving evidence that they were all “terrified” upon arrest. “We didn’t know how an action could turn into a terrorism case,” she said. “We were all terrorist prisoners.”
Plastow told jurors that he was arrested by “about 20” counter-terrorism police days after the raid and then held for six days “in a little white room with no windows and lights that didn’t go off”, like “Hannibal Lecter”.
Davidson wept while she was on the stand, saying that she and her co-defendants “still have PTSD” following their arrests.
All seven defendants were held in prison on remand for up to 18 months, in excess of standard UK custody time limits.