Activist swung sledgehammer 'to protect friend'

A Palestine Action activist accused of seriously injuring a police officer during a break-in at a factory said he did it to "protect" his co-defendant, a court has heard.

Samuel Corner, 23, denies charges of grievous bodily harm with intent and criminal damage following the raid at Elbit Systems UK, an Israel-based defence firm, near Bristol, on 6 August 2024.

The prosecution alleges he swung a sledgehammer at police sergeant Kate Evans after he heard "someone screaming" and feared they were being injured by security.

He told jurors at Woolwich Crown Court earlier that he "would never want to seriously hurt anyone", and denied it was part of a plan to demonstrate violence.

Alongside Corner, Charlotte Head, 30, Leona Kamio, 30, Fatema Rajwani, 21, Zoe Rogers, 22, and Jordan Devlin, 31, are also on trial, accused of criminal damage.

Jurors previously heard Corner hit Evans in the back with the sledgehammer as she was on her knees trying to arrest Rogers.

The officer suffered a fractured spine and remains on restricted duties at work.

Corner maintains he took such action "to protect" his co-defendant from harm.

"I heard someone screaming and I thought she was being seriously hurt by security," he said. "I would never want to seriously hurt anyone."

In his evidence, Corner told jurors the intention of the raid was to "shut Elbit down".

"We intended to destroy weapons and things needed to make weapons, which we believed were going to be used to cause death and destruction," he said.

Once inside, they used sledgehammers and crowbars to destroy computers, drones and equipment, and sprayed the walls and floor with red paint using fire extinguishers.

The break-in happened before Palestine Action was proscribed by the government on 5 July 2025.

Corner said the group's main aim was to "damage the factory", but he described feeling "nervous and lost" once entering.

"We hadn't been prepared for what to do when we were inside," he said.

"Everything about the environment was really overwhelming. I felt out of my depth, I didn't really know what to do."

Corner, a former linguistics and philosophy student at the University of Oxford, discovered Palestine Action in 2020 after coming across a video of the group on YouTube.

He said he was not aware of any previous demonstrations involving violence, and said organisers of the demonstration had assured participants they "wouldn't have to worry" about security guards intervening.

The defendants deny all charges and the trial continues.

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