Judge spares four Palestine Action members jail after they took hammers to a Barclays bank while a security guard was trapped inside

Published 3 November 2026, 16:01

• Judge Altham warned in his sentencing remarks that any public statement exposing their remorse as fake could still see them jailed.
• The masked overnight raid on the Burnley branch left Barclays with a repair bill of £212,805.
• Organiser Hmeera Atiqnisar, 31, told the trial that the group hid their faces so they could stage similar attacks in future.

Four Palestine Action members who took hammers to a Barclays bank while a security guard was trapped inside have been spared immediate jail, after a judge concluded they had genuinely accepted that sincere beliefs do not licence breaking the law.

Judge Altham handed organiser Hmeera Atiqnisar, 31, two years' imprisonment suspended for 20 months, and gave Brendon O'Hagan, 28, Amanda Kelly, 32, and Mohammed Malik, 28, each 20-month sentences, also suspended for 20 months.

A fifth defendant, Alma Yaniv, 70, who drove the group to and from the scene, was adjourned for sentencing to 8 December.

The attack took place in the early hours of 5 August 2024.

The four arrived at the Burnley branch of Barclays on Coal Street wearing face coverings and carrying hammers and red paint.

Malik was principally responsible for smashing windows; Kelly spray-painted the front of the bank; Atiqnisar also smashed windows and had supplied two of the hammers; and O'Hagan filmed the attack throughout so footage could be shared online.

The repair bill came to £212,805.14.

Security guard Daniyaal Fareed was on the ground floor throughout.

He shouted at the group to stop and retreated upstairs for help, but the four continued regardless.

HHJ Altham said he "particularly" took into account the defendants' "disregard for the Security Guard who was trapped in a building while you four, masked, were apparently trying to smash it with hammers," adding that Fareed was left "very distressed."

After the attack, the group returned to Yaniv's car, which drove around a police van blocking their path at a red light and ran through a second red light in sight of another police vehicle before being stopped.

Police recovered hammers, spray-paint canisters, face coverings and Israel-Palestine material.

No driving offences were charged.

At trial, O'Hagan and Atiqnisar told the court they had concealed their identities specifically to allow them to take part in similar attacks in the future.

Malik and Kelly stated that they had no intention of taking part in another attack of this kind.

All five were of previous good character.

The judge classified the offence as the most serious category of criminal damage — Category 1A — citing the high degree of planning and premeditation.

He rejected the prosecution's suggestion that the attack was partly motivated by revenge against Barclays, saying "protest is not the same as revenge."

The decisive factor permitting suspension, HHJ Altham said, was his conclusion that all four had "now understood" that "however sincerely a cause is held, that sincerity does not provide a licence to pursue it by unlawful means."

He warned, however, that if any defendant made public pronouncements showing their "professed recognition was not genuine," he would consider whether their sentences should remain suspended — while stressing the court placed no restriction on lawful protest.

Atiqnisar was ordered to complete 250 hours of unpaid work within 12 months — the judge noting it would have been higher but for her caring responsibilities — while O'Hagan, Kelly and Malik were each ordered to complete 240 hours.

All four were also made subject to a probation requirement.