Six Palestine Action activists face retrial as remaining Filton 24 found not guilty

The remaining defendants from the so-called Filton 24 have been found not guilty of aggravated burglary in Woolwich Crown Court on Wednesday, after the first six Palestine Action activists were acquitted two weeks ago.

Five activists, William Plastow, Ian Sanders, Madeline Norman, Julia Brigadirova and Aleksandra Herbich, have also been granted conditional bail after prosecutors decided not to pursue aggravated burglary charges. Applications for a further eight defendants are expected to be heard on Friday.

"I'm in a very, very excited group chat. People are literally sobbing, I was," Clare Hinchcliffe, mother of Zoe Rogers, who was acquitted over the Filton protest early February, told The New Arab.

"I don't know how I feel. I'm all over the place. I've been sobbing my heart out."

While Hinchcliffe expresses joy, she cannot help but think about the time the defendants have lost during remand.

"It's bittersweet because it's like, 'hooray, they're finally free, but also, why did they have to spend 18 months of their life in prison?'", Zoe's mother says. "They've been robbed of time that they can never get back in their lives."

"Their communities were robbed, their families were robbed, and it's absolutely appalling."

"To do that to people of conscience who only took action because they wanted to prevent a genocide and British complicity in genocide, that is absolutely disgusting. This government is criminal."

Plastow, Sanders and Norman have been in custody for almost 18 months, while Brigadirova and Herbich have been imprisoned since November 2024.

The remaining activists remain in prison awaiting trial, apart from Sean Middlebrough, who absconded from jail in November 2025.

However, all 18 continue to face criminal damage charges, and some are also charged with violent disorder.

February 2027 retrial

This comes as the Filton Six, including Zoe, will face a retrial on the charges the jury failed to reach verdicts on after over 36 hours of deliberation, with a provisional date set for 16 February 2027.

Charlotte Head, 29, Samuel Corner, 23, Leona Kamio, 30, Fatema Rajwani, 21, Zoe Rogers, 22, and Jordan Devlin, 31, were all acquitted of aggravated burglary over the break-in at an Elbit Systems' UK site in Filton in August 2024.

Hinchcliffe says a retrial was expected, but it could still be a tough case.

"We've seen this ridiculous overcharge of aggravated burglary, we've seen the ridiculous length of time on remand, they're just throwing everything out there," Hinchcliffe said.

Rogers, who has been on bail since her acquittal, was present at court on Wednesday as she is one of the defendants, with her mother saying it will be strange for her to be back on the dock. 

"She [Zoe] went in very shy, socially anxious young woman, and she's still shy," Zoe's mother says, "but she's so much more confident, and so much more a mixture of herself, and it's just a beautiful thing to see".

The six were facing counts of violent disorder, criminal damage and aggravated burglary, but were cleared of the latter.

Rajwani, Rogers and Devlin were found not guilty of violent disorder, while verdicts were not made for the remaining three.

At the same time, the jury also failed to reach a verdict on the grievous bodily harm charge against Corner after being accused of hitting a police sergeant on the back with a sledgehammer.

So far, no one from the Filton 24 has been convicted in connection with the protest.