Judge says prosecution failed to produce sufficient evidence on charge linked to break-in at Israeli-owned arms factory

A jury has acquitted an activist of violent disorder at an Israeli-owned arms factory targeted by Palestine Action in August 2024.

William Plaistow, 35, was acquitted on Monday at the Old Bailey due to what presiding Judge Patrick Field said was a lack of evidence over the incident in the Filton area of Bristol.

“The prosecution has not produced enough evidence against him to show that he intended that there would be a violent disorder at Filton or that he assisted anyone to commit that offence,” Field said.

Plaistow, who is from Manchester, still faces a criminal damage charge alongside seven other defendants in their ongoing trial over the break-in at Elbit Systems. 

The other defendants are Ian Sanders, 47; Aleksandra Herbich, 41; Teuta Hoxha, 30; Sean Middlerough, 33; Julija Brigadirova, 33; Hannah Davidson, 53; and Madeleine Norman, 31.  

They face criminal damage and violent disorder charges which they deny.

The prosecution contends that while they were not at the factory’s premises during the raid, their assistance, which allegedly included reconnaissance trips and purchasing tools, makes them “equally responsible” as those who carried it out.

Watch our report from the Old Bailey

‘Felt compelled’

Following Plaistow’s acquittal, Monday’s six-hour hearing focused entirely on testimony from Norman.

After graduating from Oxford University with a degree in classics in 2018, Norman has worked for several organisations helping people with learning-disabilities and neurodivergences. 

Norman told the jury they had become interested in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict during anti-racism protests in 2020 and learned more while volunteering with the Refugee Council.

“I was hearing more about Palestine in that context as well. There is obviously a massive diaspora of refugees who have been displaced from their homeland by Israeli settlers,” Norman said.

In 2021, Norman signed up with the Palestine Solidarity Campaign and began to learn “more about Palestinians, the apartheid system in Israel and the long history of Palestinian resistance to their repression”.

Norman learned more about Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest weapons manufacturer, and began protesting at one of the company’s factories in Manchester each Tuesday.

“We would go and march around the perimeter carrying placards and chanting. It felt pretty futile to be honest but we kept going,” Norman said.

The following year, after an initial email to Palestine Action was ignored, Norman said she attended one of the group’s online training sessions and then began participating in actions.

The jury was told about four separate direct actions Norman was involved in as part of Palestine Action before the raid at Filton.

They included spray painting and smashing windows at UAV Engines, an Elbit subsidiary, in Shenstone and blocking an Elbit factory in Leicester. 

Norman reported feeling “weird” before such actions. “I would normally feel sick beforehand. I get crippling migraines for days afterwards.”

“It’s not like people do this for the thrill. You do it because you are compelled to.”

The trial continues.