Nine people have been arrested for breaching a Section 14 order while holding signs communicating the principle of jury equity outside a court where Palestine Action activists are being retried.
Their signs read: “Jurors have an absolute right to acquit according to their conscience” and “Jurors deserve to hear the whole truth”. The latter sign appears to reference a court order, which prohibits British media outlets from reporting on certain aspects of some proceedings.
The nine people arrested were holding handwritten signs outside Woolwich crown court on Friday 24 April, where six Filton24 defendants are currently being retried on charges of criminal damage in connection with a Palestine Action raid on an Elbit Systems factory in Filton, South Gloucestershire, in August 2024.
A Section 14 order was implemented on both Thursday and Friday to prevent any demonstrations near the court outside of a designated area. A DOJ spokesperson told Novara Media that the area where protest was permitted by the Metropolitan police is a mile away from the court, which defeats the purpose of the protest.
A Met spokesperson told Novara Media: “Conditions were put in place to manage the protest under Section 14 of the Public Order Act, meaning their demonstration had to take place in a certain place. Seven men, aged 21, 39, 64, 66, 68, 73 and 81, and two women, aged 23 and 56, were arrested on suspicion of breaching these conditions. They remain in custody as enquiries continue.”
Section 14 of the Public Order Act empowers senior police officers to impose conditions on public assemblies they reasonably believe may result in serious public disorder, serious damage to property or serious disruption to the life of the community – or where the purpose of organisers is to intimidate others and compel them “not to do an act they have a right to do, or to do an act they have a right not to do”.
The arrests come despite a high court ruling from April 2024 that threw out an attempt by the solicitor general – the government’s most senior law officer – to prosecute retired social worker Trudi Warner for contempt for holding a similar placard on jury rights outside a climate trial.
Warner was arrested in March 2023 for holding a handwritten placard that read: “Jurors you have an absolute right to acquit a defendant according to your conscience” outside the trial of Insulate Britain activists at London crown court. The Honourable Mr Justice Saini dismissed the claim against Warner.
The principle of jury equity is the common law principle that juries have the power to acquit according to their conscience. Its origins can be found in Bushell’s Case of 1670, which established the right of a jury to find facts and apply the law to those facts according to its conscience – without fear of judicial reprisal.
A plaque in the Old Bailey, visible to any serving juror or court user passing through the Grand Hall, includes a reference to this same principle.
DOJ has called today’s arrests on the basis of the Public Order Act a “cynical attempt” to bypass the high court judge’s 2024 ruling on the Warner case.
A spokesperson for DOJ told Novara Media: “These arrests are a cynical and unlawful attempt to bypass the high court ruling that quietly upholding the principle of jury equity outside a court is completely lawful.
“No one should be fooled by the unlawful section 14 order – it’s obviously absurd to suggest this quiet vigil met any of those criteria. We know exactly why these arrests are taking place. The political pressure on the DPP (director of public prosecutions) to secure convictions is so acute, he is determined to conceal from the jury their constitutional right to acquit as a matter of conscience, even if it means breaking the law.”
In February, Filton24 activists Charlotte Head, Samuel Corner, Leona (Ellie) Kamio, Fatema Zainab Rajwani, Zoe Rogers and Jordan Devlin were acquitted by a jury on the charge of aggravated burglary. The jury also acquitted Devlin, Rogers and Rajwani of the charge of violent disorder, and Head, Corner and Kamio were later also cleared of the same charge. The jury could not reach a verdict on the charge of criminal damage. Corner is being retried on an additional charge of GBH with intent. Elbit Systems is Israel’s largest weapons manufacturer.
The Labour government’s plans to scrap jury trials for all but the most serious crimes (rape, murder and manslaughter) have been slammed by thousands of lawyers and named the biggest shake-up of the criminal justice system in 800 years.
The courts and tribunals bill, which will curb access to jury trials, passed its first stage in the Commons last month.
The plans, announced by deputy prime minister and justice secretary David Lammy, were denounced as “unpopular, untested and poorly evidenced” by 3,200 lawyers – including 300 senior barristers – in a letter to prime minister Keir Starmer.
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