Palestine Action activists jailed over factory raid

Palestine Action activists jailed over factory raid5 minutes agoShareSaveAdd as preferred on GoogleChloe Harcombe,West of EnglandandDominic Casciani,Home and Legal CorrespondentPalestine ActionFour people were convicted for the violent clash which fractured a police officer's spine and caused £1.2m worth of damageFour Palestine Action activists have been jailed after causing £1.2m of damage at a UK site of an Israel-based defence firm.Charlotte Head, 30, Samuel Corner, 23, Leona Kamio, 30, and Fatema Rajwani, 21, were convicted of criminal damage in a retrial after they broke into the Elbit Systems factory near Bristol in August 2024.They were sentenced as terrorists in what is believed to be a legal first in the UK. Mr Justice Johnson said their actions had aimed to influence the government.Corner was jailed for seven years and eight months for criminal damage and inflicting grievous bodily harm on a police sergeant. The judge said he had no justification for the "extreme and gratuitous force" used.Head, who drove the prison van into the compound, was sentenced to five years in prison, Kamio was also handed a five-year jail term, and Rajwani received a prison sentence of four years and eight months.Corner was also convicted of causing grievous bodily harm after he fractured Sgt Kate Evans' spine with a sledgehammer in the raid.Due to the terrorist ruling, the offenders will not qualify for early release from prison provisions and the Parole Board will assess their risk to the public when it determines when they can be set free.Head and Rajwani cried in the dock as Johnson passed his ruling.More from BristolMotorists face major delays after police incidentDad accused of shaking four-week-old baby to deathYoung people urged to get meningitis B vaccineRajiv Menon KC, defending barrister for Head and leading for all the defendants, previously told the court the prosecution's application for the case to have a terrorist connection "undermin...