Samuel Corner was found guilty of inflicting grievous bodily harm against Police Sergeant Kate Evans following a retrial at Woolwich Crown Court on Tuesday.

Four Palestine Action activists have been found guilty of raiding an Israel-based defence firm’s UK site and destroying equipment with sledgehammers and crowbars in a bid to shut the factory down.

Supporters outside Woolwich Crown Court, London, where Charlotte Head, Samuel Corner, Leona Kamio, Katema Rajwani and Zoe Rogers faced a retrial (Image: Yui Mok)

READ MORE: Oxford busker hospitalised with head injury after attack

Charlotte Head, Samuel Corner, Leona Kamio and Fatema Rajwani were in a prison van which crashed into shutters at the Elbit Systems factory in Bristol in the early hours of August 6, 2024.

Leona Kamio was found guilty of criminal damage (Image: Yui Mok)

The activists, all wearing red boilersuits, then set about destroying property inside the factory, before clashing with security guards and police who tried to stop the raid.

Head, 30, was driving the prison van which was used as a “battering ram” to break into the facility, Woolwich Crown Court was told.

The raid had been “meticulously organised” and was aimed at “causing as much damage as possible and obtain information about the company”, said prosecutor Deanna Heer KC.

The activists used sledgehammers and crowbars they had brought with them to destroy computers, drones, and other equipment, and used fire extinguishers to spray red paint across the walls and floor.

The group caused an estimated £1 million of damage during the raid, a court was told.

Head, Corner, Kamio and Rajwani were each found guilty of criminal damage after a jury deliberated for more than 14 hours.

Fatema Rajwani was one of four activists found guilty of criminal damage (Image: Yui Mok)

Two other activists, Zoe Rogers and Jordan Devlin, who had been charged with criminal damage, and who the court heard had been in the factory, were found not guilty.

READ MORE: Emergency response to A34 Oxford crash as lane blocked

Corner was also found guilty of inflicting grievous bodily harm against Police Sergeant Kate Evans by a majority of 11 to one. He was cleared of grievous bodily harm with intent.

Mr Justice Johnson thanked jurors for their service.

“You performed that public service in exemplary fashion, turning up to court on time and putting up with delays,” he told the jury.

A protester outside Woolwich Crown Court, London (Image: Ellie Crabbe/PA Wire)

The court heard that when police arrived at the factory, 23-year-old Corner used his seven-pound sledgehammer to strike Sgt Evans twice on the back, leaving her with a fractured spine and fearing that she had been paralysed.

They claimed their purpose was to “dismantle drones and weaponry” which they believed would be used to kill people.

The defendants argued that the escalation in their clashes with security and police was not part of the plan, and insisted they had a justification for causing the damage to equipment.

Corner, a former linguistics and philosophy student at Oxford University, told his trial it “seemed reasonable to do something” after he heard one of his fellow activists screaming and believed they were being hurt by security guards.

READ MORE: Oxford – Asylum seeker jailed for sexual assaults on 3 women

Sgt Evans was unable to return to work for three months in the aftermath as she recovered from the spinal injury, and she told the court she remains on restricted duties and still experiences back pain more than 20 months on.

After the convictions, Lord Walney, former independent government adviser on political violence and extremism, said: “It’s a huge relief to see justice finally being brought after this disgusting attack that left a police officer with a fractured spine.”

The four defendants are due to be sentenced on June 12.

From today, May 5, Lidl is launching Lidl Plus Points, a new rewards system inside the Lidl Plus app that is letting shoppers earn points every time they buy groceries in store.

The biggest draw for many customers is the launch offer. Both new and existing app users are receiving 100 free points, which they can redeem straight away on selected rewards including bananas, cheese twists and chocolate digestives.

100 free points launch offer

The new points system is arriving after customer feedback shows people want more control over how rewards are used.

Instead of fixed discounts, shoppers are now collecting points and swapping them in the app’s marketplace for:

• money-off coupons for future shops
• free or discounted products
• rewards on hundreds of everyday items and middle aisle buys

For regular shoppers, it means every checkout trip is now unlocking extra savings.

Extra savings on fruit

To kick off the launch, Lidl is also doubling the reward rate on fresh produce.

Between 5 May and 22 May, shoppers are earning double points on all fruit purchases, helping points build faster during everyday grocery shops.

To grab attention, Lidl is teaming up with Liberty X for a playful campaign.

The group is releasing “Just a Lidl…”, a remake of their early 2000s hit, with a music video set inside a Lidl store and packed with nods to the supermarket’s famous middle aisle.

Recommended reading:

At a time when food prices are continuing to put pressure on household budgets, the new scheme is giving shoppers another way to stretch their money further.

For anyone already using the Lidl Plus app, the launch is effectively meaning free rewards from the moment the scheme goes live.

And for shoppers who have not checked the app recently, there is now a clear reason to take another look.