War protesters filmed attacking factory, jury told
BBCA jury has been shown CCTV footage of four people breaking through the gates of an aerospace factory before they allegedly damaged hundreds of solar panels and windows.
Videos shot from a helicopter and a drone were also played to Birmingham Crown Court, showing the "planned attack" on Moog Wolverhampton Limited in the early hours of 26 August.
Hana Yun Stevens, Bea Sherman, now known as Frank Sherman, Hisham Alkhamesi and Iain Evans all deny causing criminal damage to the factory in the Pendeford area of the city.
Prosecution barrister Rupert Jones KC told the court the four were all pro-Palestinian protesters who believed that the business was involved in the supply chain to Israel.
Jones said their motivation was not in dispute, but the case was "not about the rights and wrongs of the Arab-Israeli conflict".
The prosecution accepted they held very strong beliefs about the war in Gaza, but he said "smashing up a business because you don't agree with what they do, and want to disrupt their business, is not a lawful excuse".
The trial, he said, was simply a question of whether their actions amounted to criminal damage and the prosecution alleges that they did.
Moog UK makes components used in the aerospace industry - both commercial and defence.
Opening the case for the Crown on Friday, 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.
"Once there, they rammed the perimeter gates. Then they got up on to the factory roof," he said.
"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 the jury showed desks at the factory covered in shards of glass and a protester using a sledgehammer to smash rooftop windows.
The prosecution said it accepted that the defendants had not set out to harm anyone.
Daniel Ferguson a West Midlands police officer who is a specialist in working at heights and is trained to remove protesters from rooves, gave evidence on Friday.
He said he went up on to the Moog roof with two other officers and saw extensive damage.
He told the court he saw four people up there and three moved to a far corner while the fourth moved higher up, on to a raised section.
The three protesters were detained and he said one of them said "free Palestine" as they were taken down in a large cherry picker.
The fourth, who he identified as Hisham Alkhemesi, was brought down later.
Evans, from Shipley, in West Yorkshire; Alkhamesi, of Hinckley in Leicestershire; Sherman, of Hassocks in West Sussex; and Stevens, of south-west London all offered no comment during interview after their arrests.
Outside the court, supporters of the four held placards and waved Palestinian flags.
The trial continues.
Additional reporting from PA Media
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