Jury refuses to convict seven Palestine Action defendants over Elbit raid
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.