Press Releases & Updates 2007

Richard Wilson, who was a fire-fighter at the airport during the incident last August, told the court that fire-fighters would be informed that a particular flight had “hot cargo”, implying some element of hazard, but were given no guidance or training in dealing with fires involving munitions, in spite of the fact that the airport was regularly used by US military aircraft. Bizarrely, the witness added that he was confident they would have been able to deal with any such situation, since the munitions would be “stable” in a fire if it was extinguished quickly.

The accused activists carried out inspections of Prestwick Airport on the night of the 6th/7th August last year to look for evidence of US munitions bound for Israel for use in the Lebanon conflict. They had been alerted to the likelihood that the airport was being used by the US military to supply Israel with munitions that would be used in their military bombardment of civilian areas of Lebanon.

The trial has been adjourned till tomorrow, having been stalled by legal argument.

Facing trial are Matt Bury (50) from Somerset, Sarah Lasenby (68) from Oxford, Jean Oliver (48) and Douglas Shaw (56), both from Biggar, Olivia Agate (65) from Helensburgh, Marcus Armstrong (46) from Milton Keynes, Chris Bluemel (25) from Southampton, and Angie Zelter (55) from Cromer. They are charged with various offences under the Civil Aviation Act.

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