A 79-year-old Malvern woman was arrested at Aldermaston last week after cutting her way into the high security site of the UK Atomic Weapons Establishment.

Judith Pritchard, of Frederick Road, Malvern, spent the night in a police station, where she was charged with causing criminal damage after cutting through the perimeter fence under cover of darkness.

She had broken into the site with other Trident Ploughshares campaigners and said she was acting in response to her inner conscience.

"We're a do-it-yourself disarmament group committed to non-violent action," said Mrs Pritchard, after arriving back in Malvern in the early hours of Friday morning.

"We try to disarm Trident because we understand nuclear weapons to be wholly evil.

"I'm glad to have made one small step in the direction of disarming this monstrous weapon of mass destruction."

The group had cut through an outer fence, entered the site through a tunnel and begun to cut through a second fence when stopped by police.

Eight people were arrested and three others were escorted off the site. Mrs Pritchard was bailed to stay away from the site and appear at Newbury Magistrates' Court on May 24.

It is the second time she has been arrested while taking part in an anti-nuclear campaign, but the first time she has been charged.

"Last time they sent a police officer to my home and he probably reported back that I was a harmless old lady," she said.

"I thought about two weeks ago that I couldn't go through with this, but somehow the energy comes if it's something that means a great deal to you."

Mrs Pritchard said she might give up when she is 80.

But she added: "Why stop at 80?

"We long to see this movement grow. We want to raise public awareness of what atomic weapons are and the horrific things they can do. Most people won't allow it into their consciousness."

l Campaigner: Judith Pritchard.

Picture: Ken Upton.