Helicopter filmed pro-Palestine activists attacking aerospace plant, jury told

Videos shot from a helicopter and a drone were also played to Birmingham Crown Court, showing the “planned attack” on Moog Wolverhampton Limited, which saw a section of the roof being ripped up in the early hours of August 26 last year.

Iain Evans, 33, Hisham Alkhamesi, 23, Bea Sherman, aged 23 and also known as Frank Sherman, and 24-year-old Hana Yun-Stevens all deny causing criminal damage to the factory in the Pendeford area of the city.

Evans, from Shipley, West Yorkshire; Alkhamesi, of Hinckley, Leicestershire; Sherman, of Ditchling, East Sussex; and Yun-Stevens, from south-west London, pleaded not guilty at a previous hearing to a single count of causing criminal damage to property.

Opening the case for the Crown on Friday, prosecutor Rupert Jones said the four defendants met up in the early hours of the morning and drove to the factory in a Land Rover bought by Evans for £2,200 two months earlier.

Mr Jones said: “Once there, they rammed the perimeter gates. Then they got up onto the factory roof.

“They took a load of tools with them which, as you’ll see, they used to cause extensive damage. They smashed solar panels and glass windows and ripped up sections of the roof.”

Videos played to a jury of seven women and five men – who have been instructed to ignore a pro-Palestinian protest taking place outside court – showed desks at the factory covered in shards of glass and a protester using a sledgehammer to smash rooftop windows.

Explaining the Crown’s allegations to the jury panel, Mr Jones said the “straightforward” case was not about the “merits of the beliefs” of the defendants.

Mr Jones added: “This case is not about Israel. It’s not about Palestine. It’s not about the rights and wrongs of the Arab-Israeli conflict.

“There is no dispute whatsoever that these defendants were pro-Palestinian protesters.

“There is no dispute that they believed that the business they targeted was involved in the supply chain to Israel.

“That’s why they did what they did. And the prosecution don’t dispute that.”

Mr Jones added: “Neither is it (the case) about the merits of the business they smashed up or the rights and wrongs of Israel’s military action.”

The jury would have to decide whether the defendants had unlawfully damaged property, Mr Jones said, telling them: “The prosecution case is that they did damage property.

“In law, you can’t do that without a lawful excuse.

“Smashing up a business because you don’t agree with what they do and want to disrupt their business is not a lawful excuse.

“And it’s not a lawful excuse for good reason.

“If anyone could simply smash the windows or solar panels or other property belonging to a person or a businesses they didn’t agree with, there would be chaos.

“In a democracy, change is brought about through the ballot box or campaigns or peaceful protests, not by destroying buildings.

“So the fact this was a protest doesn’t render their actions lawful.”

The court heard the incident was reported to police at 3.47am after the defendants had lit a flare, removed tools from a vehicle and used a ladder to access the roof.

As well as viewing videos showing the Land Rover crashing through a gate to enter the site and damage being caused on the factory roof, jurors were played two videos posted on social media, including one filmed from inside the group’s vehicle.

A working at height team eventually removed the defendants one by one from the roof, the trial was told, and a “Free Palestine” banner and tools including lump hammers, saws and grinders were recovered.

In interview after their arrest the defendants offered no comment to questions they were asked.

The trial continues.