Rooftop protesters caused £571k damage, court told

Julian Gao, Ruby Hamill, Daniel Jones and Sayed Shah are all on trial at Bradford Crown Court

Four people cut through a gate and smashed a hole in the roof of a factory, causing £571,000 worth of damage in a protest against the Israel-Gaza war, a court has heard.

Julian Gao, Ruby Hamill, Daniel Jones and Sayed Shah are all accused of damaging Teledyne's factory in Shipley, which specialises in supplying electronics to the aerospace and defence sectors.

At the start of their trial at Bradford Crown Court on Tuesday, prosecutor Gerald Hendron said the four had "caused extensive damage" during the protest on 2 April.

The defendants are charged with damaging property and having articles with intent to destroy or damage property, including but not limited to crowbars and sledgehammers.

The protest on 2 April at Teledyne in Shipley lasted 14 hours, prosecutors told the jury

The prosecution told Bradford Crown Court that at 05:30 BST on the morning of the protest, the four defendants used angle grinders which caused "sparks" as they cut through the gate to Teledyne's Shipley site.

They were then said to have gained access to the roof of the building using a ladder.

The jury was shown video footage of four people at the site, who the prosecution said were the defendants.

Mr Hendron said: "The footage shows the defendants cutting their way through the fence and climbing onto the roof."

The four defendants were seen to be laughing to each other in court as the footage was played to the jury.

According to the prosecution, more footage seen by the jury showed Mr Jones, of Rossett Road, Crosby, Sefton, and Miss Hamill, of Emu Road in London, Wandsworth, smashing a window to the building.

Meanwhile, further footage was shown, which the prosecution said depicted Mr Jones holding a sledgehammer tied to a rope down a hole in the roof and swinging it from side to side.

The protest caused a total of £571,383 damage to the Teledyne factor, according to the prosecution

Another video was shown to the jury of Mr Gao, of Dalton Ellis Hall, Manchester, speaking in front of a Palestinian flag following the incident.

In the video, he said: "Britain has the ability to stop this genocide. If they won't do it, we will."

He explained the protesters' goal was to have "no more British weapons in the hands of Israeli soldiers".

Mr Gao warned "imperialists and oppressors" that "you are not safe" and "your days are numbered".

The jury also saw footage of another man, who the prosecution said was Mr Shah, of Reedley Road, Reedley, Burnley, saying: "You look so upset about some tiles, man. The whole of Gaza is being carpet-bombed."

Mr Hendron told the court that Teledyne "provided components for the defence and aerospace industries".

He added that "through British arms export licences", those components were used "by countries including Ukraine and Israel".

The prosecution said the defendants were on the roof of the Teledyne factory in Shipley for about 14 hours and caused £571,383 worth of damage.

Mr Hendron told the jury: "The defendants gave 'no comment' answers when questioned by police."

The trial continues.

Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North or tell us a story you think we should be covering here.