Overview
- The four defendants — Charlotte Head, Samuel Corner, Leona Kamio and Fatema Zainab Rajwani — were convicted of criminal damage for an August 2024 raid on Elbit Systems’ Filton site and were later sentenced with a judge adding a ‘terrorist connection’.
- The ‘terrorist connection’ judgment, handed down in June, raises statutory consequences that include serving at least two-thirds of prison terms before parole consideration, an extra year on licence and 15 years of police notification requirements.
- Their lawyers filed for permission to appeal on Thursday, arguing the judge used the wrong legal test for ‘serious property damage’, there was no evidence of intent to influence or intimidate, and the enhanced sentences breach ECHR protections on fair trial and retrospective punishment.
- One defendant, Samuel Corner, was also convicted of causing grievous bodily harm for striking Sergeant Kate Evans with a sledgehammer during the raid which left her with a fractured spine, while the others were convicted only of property damage.
- Campaigners and legal experts warn the ruling could set a wider precedent for reclassifying protest-related property damage as terrorism and note the case followed the government’s 2025 proscription of Palestine Action which the High Court later found unlawful.