Sunderland woman spared jail after role in 8 hour pro-Palestine stand-off at factory
A security guard at the factory said he thought it was a ‘terror attack’
Three women including one from Sunderland who staged an eight hour pro-Palestine stand-off at an Israeli-owned factory have been spared jail - and will be allowed to protest immediately outside the premises again.
A security guard said he thought it was a ‘terror attack’ when Summer Oxlade, 30, Georgia Coote, 29 and Hollie Mildenhall, 26, all dressed in red boiler suits, arrived at Pearson Engineering in Newcastle at 5.20am in February last year.
Mildenhall and Coote, both from Newcastle, climbed on the roof of the Scotswood Road factory’s gatehouse while Oxlade, from Houghton le Spring, Sunderland, dumped rubble from a flatbed truck in the entrance before trying to chain herself to the vehicle.
The women on the roof sprayed red paint from fire extinguishers, cut through razor wire and smashed two illuminated panels of the firm's large sign, Newcastle Crown Court heard.
All three were convicted of criminal damage in March after a trial which heard how they targeted the firm because its parent company is Rafael Advanced Defence Systems, an Israeli-state owned weapons firm.
They said they hoped to affect the production of weapons being used to inflict "genocide" in Gaza, although a company representative told the court during trial that none of its creations had been supplied to Israel.
Sentencing the trio to a community order today, Judge Edward Bindloss told how they were helped by two unknown men from Palestine Action which, at the time, was not a banned terror group.
Two security guards at the site were told by the two figures in black to get back, as they pointed fire extinguishers at them, which were in fact loaded with red paint and had the words ‘Resistance is Fertile’ written on the side.
One of the workers said he thought it was a terror attack, adding he was concerned if they had weapons. He said he did not ‘come to work to get assaulted’, the court heard.
The other guard had his jacket damaged by red paint. The court heard the two men helped the two women get onto the roof of the factory and passed them items.
Prosecuting, Michael Bunch, told the trial: "Once the two women were on the roof they used bolt cutters to cut through barbed wire then used the paint-loaded fire extinguishers to target the building, at the same time catching both security guards with red paint as they did so.
"They then used slingshots to project stones, causing further damage to the signage of the factory."
After the load had been dumped from the truck, Oxlade, from Houghton Le Spring, had also poured red paint onto the ground before throwing the can at the gatehouse. She then used a chain and a tube filled with cement to lock herself in the truck.
Police then arrived on the scene and removed Oxlade from the truck, before, eight hours later, using a cherry picker to remove the women from the roof of the gatehouse.
Mr Bunch today applied for a restraining order to be implemented preventing the three women from being within 20 metres of the factory, but the judge imposed no such order.
The judge said it was ‘not necessary’ after hearing mitigation from their representatives.
Mira Hammad, for Oxlade, said all three had ‘already been prevented for just over a year from joining protests outside of Pearson Engineering’ and that they had followed bail conditions not to do so.
She said Oxlade worked for an LGBTQ+ charity, saying that: “None of the defendants are of means”.
Damage to the property was placed at around £5,000 but because of the women’s limited incomes and the factory being part of a ‘multi-million pound company’, each defendant was ordered to pay just £600 each in costs.
“The victim in this case is a multi-million-pound company…£5,000 is an entirely insignificant sum,” added Ms Hammad.
She said Oxlade’s position is that ‘she does not resile from her views of the company and they are perfectly legitimate views’.
The judge described all three as defendants with ‘conscientious motives’ with previously good character, aside from Oxlade, who had a caution for criminal damage in 2020 after spray painting a statue in Sunderland during a protest.
Coote is studying a PHD in civil engineering at Northumbria University and also carries out food distribution and refugee solidarity work.
While Mildenhall has a post graduate degree in International Relations, the judge said, describing her as an ‘impressive young woman’ who works in hospitality.
He added: “I accept that none of you have changed your views of Pearson Engineering. I accept you are now committed to lawful protest and won’t be repeating what you did on this occasion.”
The judge said it had been a "non-violent protest" and none of the women "used or threatened any violence at all".
He gave them each a community order for 12 months, with Oxlade having to complete 100 hours of unpaid work and the other two 80 hours. He said the compensation was ‘adjusted downwards because of the size of the company’ and because unpaid work would affect the defendants’ abilities to pay more than £600 each, which they have six months to do.