Press Releases & Updates 1999

Rachel Wenham was remanded to appear on Monday 8th February while the others, Rosie James, Louise Wilder, Helen Harris and Janet Kilburn were released on strict bail conditions which bind them to reside at their noted address, to report three times a week to the local police station, to maintain an overnight curfew and to stay away from nuclear establishments. All five women are members of the Aldermaston women’s peace campaign who for years have taken action against the Atomic Weapons Establishment at Aldermaston and have tracked convoys carrying nuclear warheads from Burghfield to Coulport on the Clyde.

More details have emerged of Monday’s events. At 5.30 a.m. Rachel Wenham and Rosie James swam unchallenged across 300 metre stretch of water to the submarine. They boarded it, draped a large banner with the legend "Women Want Peace", spray painted "Illegal Death Machine" and peace slogans on the hull, and damaged test equipment on the conning tower with the hammers they had with them before being arrested. Following their arrest the police telephoned their colleagues to inform them that they were in custody. When Helen Harris was handing in dry clothes for Wenham and James she was arrested as were the other two shortly afterwards. In court the police denied they had informed the women’s colleagues of the arrest of Wenham and James.

Their Aldermaston colleague Sian Jones said:

"The police lied in court to cover up the fact that they lured Louise, Janet and Helen into Barrow so that they could claim they had also entered the dockyard. The bail conditions are ludicrous and will be challenged. The network of nuclear installations across the UK is so vast and extended that you can hardly go anywhere without being near one. This week we have shown that we mean business and we will continue to take direct action against these immoral and illegal weapons of mass destruction."

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