Four alleged pro-Palestine protesters in court over £1m damage to defence firm near Wolverhampton
Four alleged pro-Palestine protesters have appeared at the Old Bailey accused of causing more than £1 million of damage after smashing into a defence manufacturer’s factory near Wolverhampton.
Iain Evans, 32, Hisham Alkhamesi, 22, Bea Sherman, 22, and Hana Yun Stevens, 23, appeared by videolink from custody for a preliminary hearing on Friday morning.
They are charged with a single count of criminal damage on August 26.
It is alleged they “destroyed or damaged property to a value estimated to be over £1 million belonging to Moog Inc” in Pendeford, near Wolverhampton, without lawful excuse.
The two men and two women spoke to confirm their identities before Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb set a timetable for the case.
The senior judge said a three-week trial would take place at Birmingham Crown Court from June 8 next year before a High Court judge.
A plea and trial preparation hearing will take place at the Old Bailey on February 13.
Evans, from Shipley, West Yorkshire, Alkhamesi, of Hinckley, Lincolnshire, Sherman, of Hassocks, West Sussex, and Stevens, of south-west London, were remanded into custody.
It is alleged that members of a group, named online as Palestinian Martyrs, broke in and got on to the roof of the Moog Aircraft Group factory in Pendeford at 3.50am on August 26.
Significant damage was caused to a number of skylights and solar panels, Staffordshire Police said.
A video released on social media showed the group ram through gates in a four-wheel drive vehicle before letting off a red flare and climbing a ladder.
One of the activists said: “We are Palestinian Martyrs for Justice and each of us here today on the roof of Moog are wearing a T-shirt of one of the martyrs that have been murdered by Israel in the genocide.”
The manufacturer was targeted because it supplies equipment fitted on F-35 fighter jets used by the Israeli government to bomb Palestinians in Gaza, the group claimed.
