Jury retire in RAF Fairford anti-war protest case (From Swindon Advertiser)

Jury retire in RAF Fairford anti-war protest case

9:01am Thursday 14th September 2006

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THE jury in the trial of two peace activists accused of sabotaging military equipment in the build-up to the Iraq war have retired to consider their verdicts.

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

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

Jones, 57, of Burlington Road, Bristol, and Milling, 60, of Ambleside, Cumbria, deny conspiring to cause criminal damage to property, claiming their actions were an attempt to prevent the "murder of innocent civilians''.

The pair claimed plans for the bombing campaign against Baghdad "frightened the life" out of them.

Their defence said they felt they were acting to prevent war crimes and the destruction of property in Baghdad.

The prosecution argued the deaths of innocent civilians in war was inevitable and people could not make war on their own country's military establishments on the basis they did not like that awful fact.

The jury of seven men and five women retired yesterday at Bristol Crown Court to consider their verdicts, as a small group of anti-war campaigners gathered outside the building to await the duo's fate.

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