Protesters Found Guilty of Criminal Damage at Newcastle Factory
Pro-Palestine protesters who damaged a sign and sprayed red paint at a factory due to its alleged connections to Israel have been found guilty of causing criminal damage.
Hollie Mildenhall, 25, and Georgia Coote, 28, engaged in an eight-hour stand-off on the roof of Pearson Engineering in Newcastle, while Summer Oxlade, 29, dumped rubble from a truck, the city's crown court heard.
The women asserted that their actions in February 2025 were lawful, arguing that their disruption aimed to prevent weapons from being sent to kill people in Palestine. However, jurors determined their actions to be illegal.
Mildenhall and Coote, both from Newcastle, along with Oxlade from Houghton-le-Spring, were released on bail and are scheduled for sentencing at a later date.
Each defendant wore a keffiyeh, a traditional Middle Eastern headscarf, in the dock, as did several supporters in the public gallery.
The trial revealed that Pearson Engineering is owned by Rafael Advanced Defence Systems, an Israeli state-owned weapons company. A company representative informed jurors that no products made in Tyneside had been supplied to Israel.
At approximately 05:20 GMT on 18 February 2025, Mildenhall and Coote climbed onto the roof of the Scotswood Road factory's gatehouse, while Oxlade dumped rubble from a flatbed truck at the entrance before attempting to chain herself to the vehicle, the court was told.
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.
The damage was estimated at around £6,800, and production was halted for one day.
Prosecutor Michael Bunch stated the trio were "motivated by compassion and a desperate desire to do something," but emphasized that they "acted unlawfully."
He said their occupation of the guardhouse would have sufficed in causing disruption and the damage they caused was "gratuitous" and for "performance purposes only."
Each woman told jurors they intended to stop the factory's operations for as long as possible to save lives in Gaza, believing that any damage would prolong the shutdown.
They claimed the factory at the Armstrong Works was "complicit" in a "genocide" and was manufacturing weapons and machines used by Israel to commit "war crimes," which they described as "illegal."
The women explained they had attempted to raise awareness and have the factory investigated by petitioning politicians and holding lawful protests, but these efforts were unsuccessful.
Jurors deliberated for two hours and 15 minutes before reaching unanimous verdicts.
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