Key convicted Palestine Action member on the run

A key member of Palestine Action, who is currently on the run, has been convicted in his absence over a break-in that caused damage put at £1.2m to an arms firm.

Sean Middlebrough, 33, originally from Liverpool, absconded in October last year after being granted bail for his brother's wedding. The self-proclaimed revolutionary communist has since sent messages to supporters describing himself as a "prisoner of war".

His trial began this summer in his absence and last month the jury convicted him of criminal damage by a majority of nine-to-one.

Prosecutors told the court Middlebrough had helped to plan and organise the August 2024 break-in at Elbit Systems in Bristol, a British defence firm with an Israeli parent company. The break-in happened 10 months before the government banned the group under counter-terrorism powers.

During the break-in, other members of Palestine Action rammed the van into Elbit's factory and, once inside, set about destroying as much equipment as they could find, including military drones that they believed would be used in Gaza.

The firm says that claim is untrue and that nothing produced at the Bristol facility goes to Israel.

Prosecutors told the court that Middlebrough's role included taking part in a planning meeting in Liverpool arranged with the help of encrypted communications.

He provided £890 to fund the the plot, including £600 that prosecutors said was used by another organiser to buy equipment used for the break-in.

That kit included sledgehammers, one of which was used by Samuel Corner to severely injure a police officer by fracturing her spine as she crouched on the ground.

Corner is now serving a seven year and eight month jail sentence for criminal damage and inflicting grievous bodily harm on Sgt Kate Evans.

The jury at Middlebrough's Old Bailey trial was not told why he was not in the dock along with the seven other alleged organisers.

While he was convicted in August of criminal damage, the trial of all eight defendants on other charges came to a halt when the jury failed to reach any other verdicts.

A retrial has been provisionally listed for June 2028. Seven of the eight face an allegation of criminal damage.

All but one of the defendants, including Middlebrough, face a further allegation of violent disorder. They deny all outstanding charges.

When Middlebrough was first charged over the incident, he was remanded into custody and he then began sending a podcast to supporters from jail, describing himself as a political prisoner.

The recordings were published on Spotify and later stopped by the prison authorities.

On 20 October last year a senior judge granted him temporary bail to go to his brother's wedding.

Middlebrough was permitted to first go to Liverpool and then briefly stay in West Yorkshire and was ordered to surrender to HMP Wandsworth in south London on 24 October.

He never showed up and a judge later issued a warrant for his arrest.

Police believe Middlebrough, known to friends as Shibby, was helped to leave the UK by a well-organised network of supporters.

Since his disappearance, he has sent messages to supporters, which have been published, saying he refuses to be "held as an Israeli prisoner of war in a British prison".

Reporting of Middlebrough's conviction was delayed because of a separate prosecution in which he and another man were accused of planning to carry out a Palestine Action-themed protest at Boris Johnson's 2022 wedding party.

Middlebrough's trial on that allegation has now been put back indefinitely for legal reasons.

Judge Patrick Field KC, the judge in Middlebrough's trial over the Elbit break-in, lifted the reporting restriction on his conviction at a hearing on Monday morning.

He is the fifth Palestine Action supporter to have been convicted over the attack.

Two more trials of alleged participants are expected.

BBC News has contacted the police for comment.