Rosalind Burgin and Bethany Currie’s clients acquitted at trial following protest action
3 July 2025
The charges faced by the defendants at Manchester Magistrates Court (pictured) stemmed from a protest against a company’s alleged investments in an Israeli-owned arms manufacturer. Credit: Shutterstock.
Garden Court North’s Rosalind Burgin and pupil Bethany Currie’s clients have been acquitted of charges of aggravated trespass and ‘locking on’ during a protest in Manchester City Centre on 29 February 2024.
The defendants said their protest was against a company’s alleged investments in Israeli-owned arms company Elbit Systems and their subsidiaries operating in the UK.
The trial, scheduled to last four days, concluded in just one day on Monday (30 June 2025) at Manchester Magistrates Court.
Rosalind’s two clients were acquitted of all charges of aggravated trespass and ‘locking-on’. Bethany’s client was acquitted of ‘locking-on’ and convicted of a further charge of criminal damage. A self-representing fourth defendant was also acquitted of a charge of aggravated trespass.
‘Locking on’ offence
All protestors had prepared arguments that their conviction would have been disproportionate interference with their rights under Articles 10 and 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
A key focus for this legal argument would have been the ‘locking on’ offence, a relatively new offence under Section 1 of the Public Order Act 2023, which criminalises locking on (typically to others, objects or land to cause disruption) and other forms of protest. Rosalind has authored an article in Westlaw Topics on the development of these rights on protest offences in recent case law.
This particular protest is one of many by activist groups in the UK and internationally against companies alleged to be complicit in Israel’s ongoing attacks in Gaza, which have repeatedly targeted civilian infrastructure, aid groups, media organisations, non-combatants and children.
Two weeks before these protestors were due to stand trial, the United Nations Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese published a report into the ”corporate entities profiting from Israel’s economy of illegal occupation, apartheid and now, genocide.”
During the protest outside the company’s Manchester offices, one of the defendants said: “They invest millions into Elbit. People have been bombed every day, their homes, their schools, their children, they write the names of their children on their arms – this is a genocide of innocent people. Free the people of Palestine. Ten-year-olds are getting amputated without any anaesthesia, women having children, having C-sections without treatment. This is a genocide, not a war. They have invested ten million in Elbit, Elbit have ten factories across this country”.
27 members of Garden Court North Chambers were among more than 1,130 judges, lawyers and legal experts who signed an open letter to the UK Government calling for action against Israel’s serious violations of international law in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT).
Rosalind was instructed by Nicola Hall of Robert Lizar Solicitors. Bethany was instructed by Katie McFadden of Hodge Jones and Allen solicitors.
Additional media
For further information, please contact Alex Blair, Communications Manager at Garden Court North Chambers: ablair@gcnchambers.co.uk
