Frank Sherman's Closing Speech

11 June 2026

You have heard from our barristers and now you are going to hear from me.

I am not a lawyer, I have no background or experience in law outside of this case.  

I wanted to speak for myself not because I think I can do this better than my professional and very competent barrister but because I wanted to speak to you directly. 

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Our lawyers care about us and my lawyer cares about me but the care that we as a group put into the direct action that we took together I think can only be spoken of by one of us.

The reason we are here today is not because of protest as the prosecution have repeated. The reason we are here standing trial is because we took direct action as Hana told you. 

What is direct action?

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If you see that a room is flooding because the tap is turned on and you spend time ringing people to try and get them to turn off the tap, but they are refusing to come even though you can see the damage it is causing.

Direct action is turning off the tap yourself. 

When I gave evidence I spoke about going to Calais and working to provide some basic access to dignity for people seeking safety.

During this trip, I was hit very hard with the realities of how much choice I have. I chose to go to Calais and I made the decision that I would not go back until I had tried to do something to materially change the circumstances that lead to people having to leave their own lives, families and webs of care to flee to a dangerous militarised border. 

The people that I met there gave me the strength to carry this action through and stick to my values. When we started planning this action I did not know if down the line I would actually be able to go through with it.

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To go from my life working as a gardener with my feet planted firmly on the ground to someone tens of metres in the air with enough conviction to occupy that immense roof is not a transition that came quickly or without resistance. Right up until i got into the land rover i was not sure that i could go through with it. But along every step of the way what was happening elsewhere in the world gave me the strength to carry on. 

I stand before you on trial for charges that we have plead not guilty to.

I plead not guilty because that is what I honestly believe. I believed then and now that I was upholding International Humanitarian Law. I will always in my heart know using care and intention to disarm the factory is not criminal.

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And yet still i have accepted the repercussions that have already unfolded. And i will accept the repercussions that could be ahead. None of what i have already faced or could face (if you do decide without any doubt that i am guilty) can compare to how i would feel if I had not taken action. 

I am proud of what we achieved as a group and  think it clearly shows the value of integrity that i want to carry through the rest of my life. 

You all stand here today as individual people having to take time out of your lives to fulfil your duty to judge this case on the facts.

You will work together to deliver a verdict but it will be made up of all of your own individual choices.

Choices influenced by the lives you have led.

Each of you bringing your own rich life experiences, wisdom and hopes and fears about the world with you.

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This is the strength of trial by jury and not something to shy away from. 

You heard me tell the prosecutor that I disarmed this criminal company. I answered all the questions  that were put to me honestly as i came here to do. I wish i could have said more. There is nothing that i need to hide. I stood on that roof with my 3 wonderful co-defendents stopping the operations of the factory. As iain told you in his evidence the longer we stayed up there the more lives we could save. As hisham told you, we intended to disrupt shipments, disrupt production, and as Hana told you we disrupted only what we deemed to be criminal. 

I would like to raise that Moog did not appear to speak in court about the operations that the factory are involved in. 

To end this speech here is a poem that spoke to my heart

If I must die,

you must live

to tell my story

to sell my things

to buy a piece of cloth

and some strings,

(make it white with a long tail)

so that a child, 

while looking heaven in the eye

awaiting his dad who left in a blaze–

and bid no one farewell

not even to his flesh

not even to himself–

sees the kite, my kite you made, flying up above

and thinks for a moment an angel is there

bringing back love

If I must die

let it bring hope

let it be a tale

I have spoken from my heart and would be grateful if you are able to do the same

I hope you the jury can agree with us and find us all not guilty .