Another Jury Balks,  
Ploughshares Women  
Finally Walk  
Yet another jury has failed to convict Rosie James and Rachel Wenham on criminal damage charges first filed in February, 1999, when the two women swam out and boarded HMS Vengeance, the last of Great Britain's four Trident nuclear submarines to be built. The ship was in dock at the Barrow Shipyards in Cumbria, and once aboard, the pair draped banners, painted slogans, and used hand tools to cause tens of thousands of dollars damage to sonar test equipment in the conning tower before they were arrested. Their single-minded intent to disarm an illicit weapon of mass and indiscriminate destruction, and the evidence they presented, once again convinced enough jurors that theirs was not a criminal act, but a necessary one, given the threat of Trident.

In her testimony, Wenham said that Trident was not an ornament, it was there to be used. That is why they had to act. They had damaged the transport system of a dreadful weapon before it could be used. When the prosecution suggested that they had acted for publicity, James was adamant. "At the time I did it to stop Vengeance from going out. The action spoke for itself."

Following the October 4 indecision of the Manchester Crown Court jury, Crown prosecutors announced that they would no longer pursue the case. It was the third time they had failed to win a conviction. On the Crown's first round, the trial was aborted when they could not come up with a reasonable estimate of damage to the submarine. A second trial in September, 2000, ended with the women's acquittal on a minor damage charge relating to the painted slogans and a hung jury on the major charge of damage to the test equipment. The last failure came on retrial of the major damage charge.

Rosie James 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 observed, "Their action back in the early days of the campaign gave us a tremendous lift and was a model of sheer guts and effectiveness."

RIGHT LIVELIHOOD AWARD

As the trial ended, another lift for the Trident Ploughshares campaign came with news that the Campaign had been awarded the 2001 Right Livelihood Award (also known as the Alternative Nobel Prize), to be presented by the Swedish Parliament in December. The Award honors the campaign as "a model of principled, transparent and nonviolent direct action dedicated to rid the world of nuclear weapons. Their imaginative campaign highlights the illegality of these weapons. It is a timely reminder of the unprecedented nuclear threat to life."

For more information, contact Trident Ploughshares, 42-46 Bethel St., Norwich, Norfolk, NR2 1NR, England, +44 08 45 45 88 366, email: tp2000@gn.apc.org web: www.tridentploughshares.org.