BAe PLOWSHARES: On January 6, 1993, feast of the Epiphany, Chris Cole, a Christian peace activist from Oxford, England, entered the British Aerospace (BAe) weapons factory in Stevenage, Herts, and used a household hammer to disarm a radar dome mold for the European Fighter Aircraft, a nose cone, a computer and the Hawk strike attack aircraft. He also poured blood on military equipment and carried two banners which said: "HEAL THE WORLD - HAMMER BAe SWORDS INTO PLOWSHARES" and PREPARE THE WAY OF THE LORD - SWORDS INTO PLOWSHARES." The hammer and one of the banners were also used in the "Anzus Plowshares" action at Griffiss AFB in 1991. In a statement he left at the site he explained: "The Epiphany remembers when three men presented gifts to the infant Jesus. My gift of disarmament is for all the infants who are threatened with BAe weapons, from Northern Ireland to East Timor." (BAe is a heavy supplier of Hawk fighter planes to Indonesia. These planes, in turn, are used against the people of East Timor). After being at the site for about an hour, during which time he entered several buildings, he was arrested and jailed. On January 7th, he was charged with having caused criminal damage in excess of 475,000 pounds (about $700,000). He was released from prison on 10,000 pounds in June 1993 and given strict bail conditions pending trial. 
    On October 7, 1993, Chris was tried by a jury. Following eloquent testimony by Chris concerning BAe's criminal activity and how he had tried a variety of methods to appeal to BAe to disarm, the judge instructed the jury that they must use their "conscience, common sense and common humanity" to decide their verdict. The judge also told the jury that "if what Mr. Cole says is happening in East Timor, it may amount to genocide, which is a crime against British and International law. On October 11th, the jury deliberated on the case for five hours and could not reach a verdict-- at least three members of the jury thought Chris had done the right thing. Thus the trial ended in a hung jury. Four days later Chris had a new trial. This time he was convicted and sentenced to eight months imprisonment. He was released shortly after his conviction for he had already served the required time for this sentence.