Quaker activist sent for trial
Sam Walton and Dan Woodhouse have appeared at Blackpool Magistrates Court
Quaker activist Sam Walton and Dan Woodhouse, a Methodist minister, had their pre-trial hearing at Blackpool Magistrates Court on 10 July, following their arrest on 29 January for entering BAE Systems’ Warton site in order to disarm warplanes bound for Saudi Arabia.
They both pleaded not guilty to two counts of criminal damage. A trial has been scheduled to last four days from 23 October in Burnley.
They said in a statement: ‘Our barrister Blinne Ní Ghrálaigh of Matrix Chambers constructed as solid a foundation for a trial as we could hope for.
‘She built on the excellent preparatory work of our solicitor Mike Schwarz of Bindmans.
‘We’re deeply grateful for their dedication, which has been pro bono up to this point.’
The two men do not currently have legal aid and Sam Walton will probably run his own defence.
‘We are both pleased we will get our day in court and fairly chilled out about the whole thing,’ they explained. ‘We are grateful for the support, thoughts and prayers sent our way.’
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