Jury out in ‘sabotage’ court case (From Swindon Advertiser)

Jury out in ‘sabotage’ court case

10:14am Friday 15th September 2006

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A JURY in the case of two peace activists accused of sabotaging military equipment were sent home for the night after failing to reach a verdict.

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

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

Milling, 60, of Ambleside, Cumbria, and Jones, 57, of Burlington Road, Bristol, deny conspiring to cause criminal damage to property.

Bristol Crown Court has heard them claim that they were acting to prevent war crimes and the destruction of property in Baghdad.

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

The jury, which began its deliberations on Wednesday afternoon, will continue trying to reach a verdict today.

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