TWO anti-nuclear protesters who entered a dockyard planning to attack and disarm one of Britain’s Trident submarines were yesterday cleared by a jury.

Sylvia Boyes, 57, and a fellow campaigner, River, 45, - formerly known as Keith Wright - had admitted at Manchester Crown Court that they plotted to damage HMS Vengeance at the Marconi Yard in Barrow, Cumbria, in November 1999.

But they claimed their actions were justified because nuclear weapons were "immoral and illegal".

Ms Boyes, of Eccles, Greater Manchester, and River of Whalley Range, Manchester, had pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to cause criminal damage.

In October 1999, a sheriff in Greenock ordered not guilty verdicts on three women who caused thousands of pounds worth of damage to submarine equipment at a naval establishment on Loch Goil.