Peace activists ‘frightened’ by war on Iraq

9:00am Wednesday 13th September 2006

PLANS for a major bombing campaign against Baghdad "frightened the life'' out of two peace activists who sabotaged equipment on an RAF base, a court has heard.

Paul Milling and Dr Margaret Jones used hammers and bolt cutters to disable fuel tankers and trailers used for carrying bombs at RAF Fairford on March 13, 2003, Bristol Crown Court heard yesterday.

The pair claimed they were attempting to prevent the take-off of US Air Force B-52 bombers, which would be used during the Iraq conflict later that month.

Jones's barrister, Hugo Charlton, told the court that proposals for the "Shock and Awe'' military operation, involving mass bombing of the Iraqi capital, terrified the pair.

He said: "Maybe it was propaganda, maybe the Americans were just trying to frighten the life out of the Iraqis.

"They certainly frightened the life out of Jones and Milling."

Mr Charlton said the destruction would have been "five times'' worse than the firebombing of Dresden in the Second World War.

In his closing speech, Mr Charlton told the jury it was a "very unusual'' trial.

He said: "It's not often you get the chance to consider how people would react in the face of the prospect of the annihilation of a capital city.'' Milling, 60, of Ambleside, Cumbria, and Jones, 57, of Burlington Road, Bristol, deny conspiring to cause criminal damage to property.

• The trial continues