Palestine Action arms factory rooftop protesters sentenced

The two men spent 27 hours on the roof

Two pro-Palestinian activists caused £157,000 damage to an arms factory during a 27-hour rooftop protest in Newcastle, a court has been told.

Craig Smith, 39, and Jay Foster, 23, forced the shutdown of Pearson Engineering in May over its links to Israel, Newcastle Crown Court heard.

Both admitted causing criminal damage and were given suspended prison terms.

Accomplice Ishaq Aslam, 52, was found guilty of conspiracy to cause criminal damage and jailed for 14 months.

Prosecutor Emma Dowling said Aslam drove the men to the Armstrong Works on Scotswood Road on the morning of 15 May.

Smith and Foster used a ladder to scale the perimeter fence, then climbed scaffolding around the building to reach the roof, Ms Dowling said.

The men unfurled a large banner "protesting the continued occupation of Palestine" and caused "significant damage to the factory", the prosecutor said.

The men said they were opposing the factory's links to Israel

She said Foster smashed eight large windows and roof panels and covered the roof with red paint from an adapted fire extinguisher.

Factory bosses said they had to shut operations down, while Northumbria Police said they redeployed 40 officers to manage the scene, which had attracted supporters.

Ms Dowling said Smith and Foster "simply ignored" police appeals to get down.

The men spent 27 hours on the roof before specialist officers from Merseyside escorted them to the ground.

Red paint was sprayed over the roof of the factory

In mitigation, Elena Papamichael for Aslam said the damage was "superficial" in that none of the factory's machines were harmed, but Judge Sarah Mallett said it was "more than superficial" as the roof had to be replaced.

Ms Papamichael said the men's intention was to "raise awareness of issues and build support against the arms industry", having targeted the factory because it was "owned by the Israeli government".

Katie Spence, for Smith, of Leyden Street in Glasgow, said he was on the roof but did not cause the damage.

She said he was "heavily motivated" to tackle the "way people were treated and unfairness" following the death of his partner from cancer four years ago.

Ms Spence said Smith's intention was to "stop the factory from working, not to harm people".

Aarif Abraham, for Foster, of Sholebroke, Leeds, said his client first met the other two the night before in Edinburgh and it was an "opportunistic exercise" rather than heavily planned.

The protesters targeted Pearson Engineering

The judge said she accepted the men were "motivated ideologically", but the protest was deliberately targeted "to cause as much loss as possible to the company's owner, the Israeli government".

She said they were "not being punished for [their] beliefs" but rather their actions.

Smith and Foster were each sentenced to 11 months suspended for two years, with an order to complete 100 and 200 hours of unpaid work respectively.