Press Releases & Updates 2001
4th October 2001
Trident Disarmers Go Free As Jury Is Hung Again
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Trident disarmers Rosie James and Rachel Wenham were discharged today at
Manchester Crown Court when the jury could not reach a verdict on the
charge of criminal damage against them and the prosecutor confirmed that
the Crown would not seek a retrial.
On 1st February 1999 Rachel and Rosie swam to and boarded the Trident
nuclear weapon submarine HMS Vengeance, then docked at Barrow-in-Furness.
They draped banners, painted slogans and damaged testing equipment on the
conning tower. Their first trial was aborted when the prosecution failed to
come up with reasonable estimates of the damage done. The second trial last
year ended with acquittal for the women on the minor charge related to
painting slogans and the jury was hung on the more serious criminal damage
charge. It was admitted by a Crown witness at the trial that their action
had delayed HMS Vengeance for a month. Their defence was that they had
acted out of necessity due to the threat posed by the Trident nuclear
weapon system.
Rachel said: " I feel great - this is an excellent outcome. It’s good to
know that at least three people -probably more - knew we were justified in
our action and held out for that."
Trident Ploughshares member Jane Tallents said: "It has always been hard to
imagine any jury convicting Rachel and Rosie. They were so deliberate and
single minded in what they did and so transparent about why they acted.
Their action back in the early days of the campaign gave us a tremendous
lift and was a model of sheer guts and effectiveness. The trials themselves
have exposed the insane violence behind our so-called policy of deterrence
 a violence so sadly illustrated these days in the unthinking readiness to
go for the war option without considering the potential holocaust that may
result."
As the trial ended Trident Ploughshares supporters learned that the
campaign had been awarded the 2001 Right Livelihood Award (also known as
the Alternative Nobel Prize), to be handed over in the Swedish parliament
in December. The Award honours the campaign as "a model of principled,
transparent and non-violent direct action dedicated to rid the world of
nuclear weapons. Their imaginative campaign highlights the illegality of
these weapons."
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Trident Ploughshares,
0845 45 88 366
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