Big Plane Small Axe the mis-trials of Mary Kelly [Part 1/3]

The mis-trials of Mary Kelly. In January 2003 the American build-up for the attack on Iraq was intensifying daily.
Shannon Airport had become a refuelling stopover for the war.
Mary Kelly, newly returned from hair-raising experiences as a volunteer nurse in Palestine, threw herself into the anti-war movement, but soon came to believe it was not enough.

’I felt I had to do something else, and shatter through their lies. I just did not want those planes going there, so I attacked one of them. It was like chopping extremely hard wood.’

She was charged with criminal damage to a US Navy aircraft without lawful excuse, and faced a possible ten years in jail.
The film follows her ordeal through three successive trials, in Kilrush and Ennis, and finally her sentencing at Limerick.

Filmed and Produced by Margaretta D'Arcy
A Women in Media and Entertainment Production