Lloyds Bank refused a mortgage to the mum of Palestine Action prisoner Leona ‘Ellie’ Kamio due to “adverse media” and debanked Ellie while she was on remand, Novara Media can reveal.
Ellie Kamio is one of four Palestine Action activists convicted of criminal damage and sentenced as ‘terrorists’ after damaging Israeli military equipment – including quadcopter drones – at an Elbit Systems factory in Filton, Gloucestershire.
Ellie’s mum Emma Kamio, a small business owner in south Wales and mother of three, applied for a new mortgage with Lloyds on her commercial properties in April. Her mortgage broker had made the high street bank aware of the legal process affecting the family prior to application.
However, Emma’s broker was told by a Lloyds business development manager in early June: “We’ve now assessed the deal and consulted with our credit sanction team. Unfortunately, due to the adverse media it’s not something they’re comfortable supporting at this time.”
At this point, Ellie had been found guilty of criminal damage at retrial but not yet sentenced.
Emma’s broker then offered an alternative plan – transferring the properties into her sister’s ownership – but Lloyds still refused to proceed with the mortgage application.
Emma told Novara Media she is “devastated” by Lloyds’ decision. She said: “I’m a small business owner but my business has had to slip down the list of priorities as for the past two years, I’ve spent every waking moment dealing with the trauma of my wrongful arrest or fighting for my daughter’s campaign and her release.
“It’s taken its toll on my business and the remortgage was to help buffer that. The result of Lloyds’ decision has meant me losing the properties, but thankfully my drive for justice is more important to me than money.”
Ellie was sent a letter notifying her of Lloyds’ decision to close her bank account in February 2025, while she was held on remand and had not been convicted of any crime.
The letter, sent to an address Ellie no longer lived at and seen by Novara Media, states: “Following a recent review of your account, we are writing to let you know that, unfortunately, we’re unable to maintain a banking relationship with you.”
No explanation of why Lloyds was “unable to maintain a banking relationship” with Ellie was provided.
A Lloyds spokesperson told Novara Media: “We do not close customer accounts or make lending decisions based on political or personal beliefs. Our decisions are based on relevant laws, regulation, account conditions or lending requirements. We’re unable to comment on individual cases.”
Anas Mustapha, head of public advocacy at CAGE International, called Lloyds’ decision with regards to Emma “collective punishment”.
Mustapha said: “Emma Kamio has nothing to appeal against – just a bank’s discriminatory risk assessment, applied because of her daughter took action to stop the supply chain of deadly weapons used in a genocide.
“CAGE called for a public inquiry into this practice years ago, when we saw it happening to Muslim community organisations and our own clients again and again: opaque, unaccountable decisions with no right of appeal.”
Emma added: “They debanked my daughter Ellie with no reason at all, and while she was on remand and therefore innocent until proven guilty.
“History is just around the corner. I believe Lloyds will be on the wrong side of it.”
Emma and her three children have all been lifelong Lloyds Bank customers.
Debanking is when banks close or refuse to open accounts for a customer for reasons including risk management, regulatory concerns or issues of profitability.
New rules to protect customers and small businesses from debanking came into force in April, requiring banks to give customers 90 days’ notice before closing accounts, provide a clear explanation and give people the time and information needed to challenge decisions.
Banks can – to some degree – pick and choose who they have as their customers, provided they do not discriminate based on protected characteristics such as age, disability, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation.
Everyone in the UK has the legal right to hold a basic bank account that gives them the ability to receive and make payments.
Ellie and her fellow Palestine Action activists, known as the Filton 4, are seeking to appeal their unprecedented sentencing as ‘terrorists’ – a first for direct actionists in British legal history. Their appeal submission argues that the judge was wrong in law to find that the non-terrorism offence of criminal damage in their case had a terror connection.
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