Three women who caused nearly £7,500 worth of damage to a Newcastle arms factory in a protest over its alleged links to Israel have been sentenced to community orders and ordered to pay compensation — after a jury rejected their argument that the destruction was lawful because it aimed to prevent weapons reaching Gaza.
Hollie Mildenhall, 25, and Georgia Coote, 28, both from Newcastle, and Summer Oxlade, 29, from Houghton-le-Spring, were each given 12-month community orders at Newcastle Crown Court following their convictions for criminal damage. Oxlade was directed to complete 100 hours of unpaid work, while Mildenhall and Coote were each ordered to complete 80 hours. All three were also ordered to pay £600 in compensation.
The trio arrived at Pearson Engineering on Scotswood Road in the early hours of 18 February 2025, wearing red overalls and accompanied by two men with links to Palestine Action who intimidated security staff before fleeing. Mildenhall and Coote scaled the gatehouse roof and remained there for around eight hours, spraying red paint from fire extinguishers and using a slingshot to shatter windows. Oxlade blocked the factory entrance by tipping rubble from a flatbed lorry before attempting to chain herself to the vehicle. The day shift was prevented from entering the workplace for the entire morning, halting production for the day.
Pearson Engineering is owned by Rafael Advanced Defence Systems, an Israeli state-owned weapons company. However, a company representative told the court that no items produced at the Tyneside facility had been supplied to Israel. Prosecutor Michael Bunch told the court the women’s stated objective was to “cause maximum disruption to production” based on what he described as a “mistaken” belief that military equipment destined for Israeli forces was being manufactured there.
Judge Edward Bindloss acknowledged all three were motivated by “conscience” and “genuinely believed” their disruption would halt what they regarded as a genocide. He described it as a “non-violent protest” in which no violence was used or threatened. Nonetheless, he made clear the court could not accept that belief as a lawful excuse for the criminal damage caused.
During the trial, Judge Bindloss had told the jury: “This is not a court of morality,” directing them to “put aside their sympathies.” He added: “The defendants gave evidence of why they caused the damage — to stop profits going to Israel, to stop the manufacture of weapons being used in a genocide, to stop damage to property. None of the above is a lawful excuse.”
Defence barristers urged the judge against ordering compensation, arguing that Pearson Engineering was a multimillion-pound company for whom the repair costs were “incidental.” One security guard described the raid as “scary” and “like a terrorist attack,” telling the court the intruders had appeared “cold and calculating.”
