Jury defies judge and refuses to convict Palestine Action activists

Defendants represented themselves to communicate directly with jurors about their legal right to acquit

A jury at Bradford Crown Court has defied a judge’s attempts to rule out any legal argument about the imperative of disrupting Israel’s genocide in Gaza and has refused to convict four Palestine Action ‘actionists’ who caused over half a million pounds’ worth of damage to a Teledyne weapons factory supplying missile parts to Israel.

The trial Judge had ruled out all the four’s potential legal defences, including the necessity to save lives and prevent the greater crime. In order to be able to appeal directly to the jury, the actionists then represented themselves in court and reminded the jury members of their right to acquit as a matter of conscience, regardless of legal argument.

This led to a hung jury. The state is expected to continue to pursue a conviction, with a retrial likely in February 2026. Palestine Action said this would create “another opportunity to expose who the real criminals are”.

The UK state has tried to suppress jurors’ awareness of their legal right to ignore judges’ directions and legal arguments and to acquit based on conscience. In March 2023, pensioner Trudi Ann Warner was arrested and charged with contempt of court for standing outside a court during a trial of actionists with a sign telling jurors of their right to follow conscience, known as ‘jury equity’, even though this right is deeply entrenched in British law and has been upheld by the UK’s highest courts.

In April this year, Judge Justice Saini ruled that it was not unlawful to communicate a ‘bare principle of law’ and threw out the prosecution’s case, saying he found no evidence at all that any public interest merited any interference in Ms Warner’s freedom of speech. Importantly, Saini ruled that jury equity is an ‘an established feature of our constitutional landscape’, raising the bar for the government to try to silence people notifying jurors of their legal rights or to abolish the right to acquit altogether.

The state’s attempt to suppress free speech is part of a wide assault, escalating under Keir Starmer, on freedoms of speech and association, which have included the abuse of anti-terror laws to arrest journalists and activists, and Guest article: ‘And as if by magic, it’s fascism’ – SKWAWKBOX.

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