Five Palestine Action activists who vandalised a Barclays branch in Burnley will not be sentenced as terrorists, a judge has ruled.

Dubbed the Barclays five, Brendon O’Hagan, 28; Amanda Kelly, 31; Hmeera Atiqnisar, 31; Mohammed Malik, 28; and Alma Yaniv, 70, were all found guilty in June of causing damage exceeding £200,000, after breaking windows and throwing red paint at a branch of Barclays Bank in Lancashire in August 2024.

The group targeted the site in protest at Barclays because it held shares in the Israeli weapons firm Elbit Systems. They have said that they did not realise that their cases would be considered as terrorism until after they were found guilty.

The jury that found them guilty of criminal charges were also unaware that such a consideration was a possibility.

After the five activists were found guilty in June, the judge, Philip Parry, told the prosecution and the defence he intended to consider a “terrorist connection” to the offending. It is understood this was a result of new information coming to light during the trial.

It was reported in October 2024 that Barclays had sold all its Elbit shares. The bank had previously said it held them only in relation to client-driven transactions, being neither an investor nor shareholder in the arms company.

More to follow …