Four Activists Convicted of Criminal Damage After Breaking into Elbit Systems Factory in 2024

Four Palestine Action activists were convicted of criminal damage at Woolwich Crown Court after raiding the UK site of Elbit Systems, an Israel-based defense firm, on August 6, 2024. Charlotte Head, 30, Samuel Corner, 23, Leona Kamio, 30, and Fatema Rajwani, 21, broke into the factory near Bristol in the early hours, wearing red boilersuits and using a decommissioned prison van as a battering ram to crash through security shutters.

The group then destroyed property inside, damaging computers, drones, and other equipment with sledgehammers and crowbars, while spraying red paint across walls and floors using fire extinguishers.

The raid caused an estimated £1 million in damage, according to testimony at Woolwich Crown Court. Activists clashed with security guards and police during the incident, leading to additional charges. Samuel Corner was found guilty of inflicting grievous bodily harm by a majority of 11 to one after striking Sgt Kate Evans twice with a sledgehammer, fracturing her spine, though he was cleared of grievous bodily harm with intent.

Zoe Rogers, 22, and Jordan Devlin, 31, were found not guilty of criminal damage in the same trial. The jury deliberated for more than 14 hours before reaching verdicts in this retrial, which followed a previous jury's failure to reach a verdict after more than 36 hours of deliberation. In the first trial, all six activists were acquitted of aggravated burglary.

Corner told the court he 'would never want to seriously hurt anyone' and denied any plan to use violence against people, explaining that he acted after hearing a fellow activist screaming and believing they were being hurt by security guards. Prosecutor Deanna Heer KC stated: 'Inside the warehouse, they set about destroying as much property as they could.

They used crowbars and hammers to damage computers, equipment, drones and other products Elbit had manufactured.