Bail refused ahead of first of #Filton24 trials

The original ‘Filton 6’ who later became 8, 12, 18 and finally 24, are due to face trial next month on several charges related to an action which took place in August 2024 when they are alleged to have driven a second-hand prison van through fencing and shutters into Elbit Systems’ research facility at Filton near Bristol. Legal arguments and administrative business ahead of the trial remain under strict reporting restrictions, but Mr Justice Johnson confirmed at a hearing yesterday that the bail application is excepted.

In the road outside the court throughout the day, dozens of supporters kept up a noisy vigil, which could be heard in the court and in the public gallery. The same cannot be said of the court proceedings themselves, as the microphone relay system was completely ineffective, leaving friends and families of the defendants struggling to follow what was being discussed.

Among the items on the agenda were bail applications on behalf of five of the accused, who have been held on remand for more than a year without trial. During the morning, only three defendants were physically in court, with others lost in the system and either delayed or forgotten. Other defendants tried to follow proceedings on video links but some were having the same issues as the families in the gallery.

Defence barristers argued that the defendants were all previously of good character, had spent more than double the generally acceptable period on remand, and were all anxious to attend trial and appeal to a jury to acquit them. The government proscription of Palestine Action, they argued, had effectively ended the organisation, and made any further action a much more serious offence, suggesting the likelihood of further offences would therefore be minimal and easily managed by very stringent bail conditions including electronic curfews, surrender of passports, police station reporting and so on.

In his judgement Mr. Justice Johnson accepted many strands of the defence application, but said that there was no real evidence that their opinions or ‘mindset’ had changed, and while a huge number of people in the country may hold similar opinions on the war in the Middle East, they protested lawfully and didn’t resort to ‘criminality’. In his opinion, the motivating factors for the defendants’ actions had not changed (other than very recent events), and so substantial grounds remained that they might commit further offences. On that basis, bail was denied.

Because of the problems of sound in the court, some of the parents had been briefly allowed into the courtroom to hear the bail proceedings, and it was clear they were deeply saddened by the judgement. It will mean that defendants will be woken up very early every morning of the trial and face long journeys in very uncomfortable prison vans, followed by gruelling days in court for the 8 to 10 weeks set aside for proceedings.

After the hearing, one of the mothers, Claire Hinchcliffe, gave a short speech and thanked supporters who had spent around six hours outside.

A judicial review of the Home Secretary’s decision to proscribe Palestine Action is currently set to take place at the High Court for three days from 25^th November, subject to a judgement from the appeal court due any day soon on the government’s bid to overrule that review.

The trial of the first six Filton defendants is set to begin on 17^th November.