Trident Ploughshares member Petter Joelson of Glasgow, and Elise Silvenoinnen from Finland, appeared in Plymouth Magistrate's Court last Thursday on charges of criminal damage. These charges resulted from an action last November during a disarmament camp in Devonport. On Friday 15th November Elise and Petter climbed over the fence into Devonport Dockyard and wandered through the base unchallenged until they reached 9Dock where the submarine HMS Vanguard, part of the UK's nuclear threat, is undergoing refit and refuelling. They cut an 18" hole through a fence, crossed a gangplank onto the sub's outer casing and then climbed up and into the conning tower. At 11:30 pm, after half an hour of "inspection", having not been detected, they set off two fire alarms to draw attention to their presence. a number of workers left the sub, ignoring Joelson and Silvenoinnen who were eventually spotted by a member of the fire watch team who alerted his superiors. All this happened despite the fact that warnings had been circulated within the dockyard about the possibility of intrusions and staff had been told to "expect the unexpected".
MoD police held the couple and gave them tea and biscuits.
In court the magistrate listened sympathetically to Petter and Elise's reasons for entering 9Dock. Amongst these were the appalling danger that nuclear weapons pose to our entire planet and Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon's threat to use nuclear weapons against Iraq. Both defendants freely admitted entering the dockyard and cutting through the fence but claimed under section 5 of the Criminal Damage Act that they had "lawful excuse" - the prevention of a greater crime. Despite being fair and reasonable throughout the magistrate nonetheless found the pair guilty but issued conditional discharges of 12 month to Joelson, who has previous convictions, and 6 months to Silvenoinnen. Both also were ordered to pay £146 compensation for the damaged fence panel.
The next Trident Ploughshares court date in Plymouth is 24th March for the seven arrested for blockading Albert Gate.