Seeds of Hope was a plowshares group of women who damaged a BAE Hawk fighter jet at the British Aerospace Warton Aerodrome site near Preston, England, in 1996. As they stated in the explanatory video film left in the aircraft after their attack, they wanted to inspire hope instead of violence and greed, hence their choice of name. The group was also called the "Warton Four."
Contents
Direct action
On the 29 January 1996, Andrea Needham, Joanna Wilson and Lotta Kronlid broke into BAe's Warton Aerodrome at Warton and caused £1.7m worth of damage to BAe Hawk tail number ZH955, a training aircraft that was to have been supplied, along with 23 other jets, to the New Order regime of Indonesia.
Trial
Accused of causing, and conspiring to cause, criminal damage, with a maximum ten-year sentence, they argued that what they did was not a crime but that they "were acting to prevent British Aerospace and the British Government from aiding and abetting genocide". Meaning the one taking place in East Timor. They were found not guilty of criminal damage at Liverpool Crown Court, after a jury deemed their action was reasonable under the Genocide Act 1969.