Four activists jailed after 'extreme' protest at factory allegedly caused 'enormous' amount of damage
Four Palestine Action activists whose orgy of destruction at a factory allegedly cost a company £1.2 million, have been jailed.
Judge Rhys Rowlands at Mold Crown Court said they had demonstrated “a degree of arrogance” as they sought to put the Teledyne Labtech factory at Presteigne in Powys, employing 64 workers, out of action for as long as they could.
Their protest was described as involving “quite extreme behaviour.”
Ruth Hogg, 40, an artist and PhD student who had been to Calais to support asylum-seekers, claimed she took part in direct action because she believed the site made component parts for weapons used against Palestinians.
Hogg, of Stanley Road, Aberystwyth, who holds a Masters degree in fine art and worked at a gallery in the Mid Wales town, denied conspiring to damage property on December 9.
She was convicted after a trial and jailed for 27 months.
Her lawyer maintained the actual bill for the damage was closer to £57,000.
The prosecution alleged it was a “professionally planned attack on a soft target, tantamount to a terrorist attack.”
Susan Bagshaw, 55, of Clawdd Helyg, Commins Coch, an artist and former social worker, Morwenna Grey, 41, of Penrallt Street, Machynlleth, described by her counsel as “hardworking, kind and caring”, and Tristan Dixon, 34, a musician, of Huddersfield, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to cause criminal damage.
They were each jailed for 23 months.
Judge Rowlands told the defendants: "It has to serve as a warning to others who might be tempted to act in a similar fashion."
