A top member of the U.K. Conservative Party on Thursday called for a retrial of six individuals acquitted of burglary charges despite admitting to breaking into a factory owned by Israel’s Elbit Systems firm in 2024.
“There is no justification for this violence, no matter how strongly someone feels about a cause,” Chris Philp, who is the Conservatives’ point person for internal affairs, including law enforcement, wrote to Stephen Parkinson, the director of Public Prosecutions, as per a report in The Telegraph.
“The verdict risks giving the green light to mob violence in pursuit of a political objective,” Philp wrote of the acquittals on Wednesday in a trial of six anti-Israel activists. They admitted during the trial to breaking into a Bristol building owned by Elbit, a defense contractor, on Aug. 6, 2024.
A jury cleared defendants of aggravated burglary charges, but they may face a retrial on additional charges of criminal damage and violent disorder. The jury reached partial or no verdicts on those counts, according to the BBC’s report of the conclusion of the trial, which began on Nov. 17 at Woolwich Crown Court in the British capital.
A police officer testified that one of the intruders, Samuel Corner, had hit her with a hammer, causing her lasting injuries.
The Police Federation, representing frontline officers, also wrote to Parkinson, saying they had “serious concerns” about the “operational and safety” implications of the decisions for officers handling protests and public order.
The Federation noted rhetoric by Zack Polanski, the Green Party leader, who welcomed the verdicts as a “moral vindication.” His words “risked sending a message, intentional or not, that injury to police officers is an acceptable or incidental concern of political protest,” the Federation wrote.
The jurors found three defendants—Fatema Rajwani, Zoe Rogers and Jordan Devlin—not guilty of violent disorder, though they did not deliver a verdict on the criminal damage charges. The remaining defendants— Corner, Charlotte Head and Leona Kamio—may face a retrial for both additional charges, The Guardian reported.
All of the defendants except Devlin told jurors that they entered the factory without permission and damaged Elbit’s equipment, including computers and drones. The jury deliberated for 36 hours but did not reach verdicts on the criminal damage charges against any of the defendants, the BBC report said.
During the trial, a police officer testified that Corner, 23, had beaten her. Corner denied this, according to The Guardian. The prosecution showed footage it said was of Corner assaulting the officer at the Elbit Systems factory near Bristol on Aug. 6, according to the BBC.
The British government outlawed Palestine Action, which was established in 2020, and declared it to be a terrorist organization in July following a series of similar break-ins and what the group called “occupations” of firms with Israeli ties.
“There is a serious danger of perverse justifications being used as a shield for criminality,” the board’s statement read. “It cannot be the case that those who commit serious criminal acts, including violent assaults, are able to evade the consequences of their actions.”
Five of the defendants, whom prosecutors said were linked to the Palestine Action terrorist group, were released on bail following the burglary verdict, with a sixth remaining in custody at least until the next hearing in the case, set for Feb. 18, the BBC reported.
