Gaza factory protester says attack was ‘lawful’
Protesters in red overalls targeted Pearson Engineering in February 2025 [CPS]
A protester who attacked a factory over its alleged links to Israel’s military action in Gaza felt her actions were “lawful” to stop war crimes, a court has heard.
Two women scaled a roof at Pearson Engineering in Newcastle and staged an eight-hour stand off in February 2025, while a third tried to chain themselves to a truck, the city’s crown court was told.
Hollie Mildenhall, 25, and Georgia Coote, 28, both from Newcastle, and Summer Oxlade, 29, from Houghton-le-Spring, each deny criminal damage.
Coote told jurors the “horrors upon horrors” she was seeing in Palestine were on-going and she thought disrupting the factory’s production would hinder the “genocide” and save lives.
The court has heard Pearson Engineering is owned by Rafael Advanced Defence Systems, an Israeli-state owned weapons company, although a company representative previously told jurors none of its creations had been supplied to Israel.
At about 05:20 GMT on 18 February 2025, Mildenhall and Coote climbed on to the roof of the factory’s gatehouse while Oxlade dumped rubble from a flatbed truck in the entrance before trying to chain herself to the vehicle, the court has heard.
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 court heard.
Two men dressed all in black also sprayed red paint at the building before fleeing, jurors have been told.
The protesters dumped rubble and sprayed red paint over the guardhouse and sign at Pearson Engineering, which is owned by an Israeli company [CPS]
Under questioning by her barrister Rosalind Burgin, Coote said she saw “just horrors upon horrors” emerging “daily” from Palestine, with the “onslaught” and “carpet-bombing” by Israel “still happening now”.
She said it was a “genocide”, which was an attempt to erase a whole group of people and the “destruction of culture”.
Coote said she did not think the situation in Gaza could “possibly get worse”, but each day she would see more reports of “families being obliterated” and aid workers and children being killed.
She said it was not just supplying weapons that was the issue as other machines, such as bulldozers, were also being used to attack Palestinians, with Pearson Engineering the “only manufacturing site” in the UK for Rafael.
“I still believe things being built in that factory are making their way to Israel,” Coote told the court, adding defence companies had “high complicity in genocide” which was “illegal”.
“It’s aiding and abetting a genocide,” Coote said, adding the parts were being “used to kill civilians and children”.
Hollie Mildenhall and Georgia Coote got on to the roof of the security building… [CPS]
…while Summer Oxlade dumped rubble outside the entrance [CPS]
Coote said the “bare minimum” of their aims was to disrupt work at the factory, which she thought would delay “weapons” getting to Israel.
“If one person is distracted from killing civilians in Palestine then that could be one less life lost,” Cotte said.
She sprayed red paint over the factory’s sign and used a crowbar to smash some illuminated panels, the court heard.
When asked by Burgin why she did that, Coote said: “The more damage is done, the more delays there are to the factory reopening.”
She said even if production was not stopped for long, staff would have to assess and repair the damage which would mean “less manpower” for the factory’s “daily activities”.
Coote said she felt “quite pleased” that they stopped a day’s worth of work.
Burgin asked if Coote accepted causing intentional damage to the factory.
“Yes,” Coote said. “But I believe I had lawful reasoning to do so.”
When asked how she felt about her actions today, Coote replied: “I’m scared of the consequences but I’m still glad I did it.”
Fire extinguishers were used to spray red paint [CPS]
The court heard she grew up in Norfolk and got a degree in civil engineering from Northumbria University before working as a bridge engineer in Bristol.
But she left the job after learning the global company she worked for was on a UN watch-list for “connecting illegal settlements in the West Bank to Jerusalem”, which was “considered a war crime”.
She joined a pro-Palestine group when she returned to Newcastle in 2024 to embark on a PhD, attending marches and rallies in the city centre and outside Pearson Engineering, the court heard.
Coote said she wrote letters to MPs but got replies that it was not the politicians’ remit, while questions she submitted to be asked at Newcastle City Council were rejected.
She said she initially thought protests and blockades at the factory were “finally doing something to stop weapons being built for Israel”, but as time went on it felt “performative” and more direct action was needed.
The protesters had Palestine flags during their roof-top occupation [CPS]
In cross-examination, prosecutor Michael Bunch said the women’s eight-hour occupation of the gatehouse roof would have sufficed to cause disruption, the damage they caused was for “performance purposes only”.
Coote disagreed and said the examination of the damage and clean up would have caused further delays to the factory’s reopening.
“I believe there’s lawful excuse for why we did what we did that day,” Coote told jurors.
The court heard the women on the roof also displayed banners, one saying “direct action gets the goods” and the other “this factory kills children”, as well as having books, clothes and Palestine flags.
Coote said there were two aims, firstly to “cause as much damage as you can” to disrupt the factory and secondly to make people aware of why they were doing it, adding: “The symbolism is important to make people understand.”
The women targeted Pearson Engineering at the Armstrong Works on Newcastle’s Scotswood Road [CPS]
Mildenhall told the court the news reports she saw from Gaza were “horrific”, with Israel “indiscriminately bombing” civilians, including children, “every single day”.
Under questioning from her barrister Ife Thompson, Mildenhall said she attended protests but they were ineffective at getting UK politicians to “sanction” Israel over its “war crimes”.
She said Rafael advertised their products as “made in the UK” with Pearson Engineering the company’s only manufacturing site in the country.
Mildenhall said she had “tried everything non-arrestable” to get the factory to stop production to no avail, so decided to take “direct action”.
She said every hour the factory was closed was an hour that “weapons” were not being made to “murder families in Gaza”.
The court heard she had lived on the Isle of Wight until 2019, when she moved to Newcastle to study at Northumbria University, completing degrees in criminology and international relations.
The trial continues.
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