Jail (12 years) for AR "extremists"

[hop 0]

Jail for animal rights extremists who stole body of elderly woman from her grave


Steven Morris, David Ward and Riazat Butt
Friday May 12, 2006
The Guardian


Three animal rights extremists involved in the theft of the body of an elderly woman from her grave were yesterday jailed for 12 years each in what is seen by police and prosecutors as a groundbreaking case.

The militants, including a vicar's son and a psychiatric nurse, led what they called a "holocaust" against a farm which bred guinea pigs for medical research. Jon Ablewhite, John Smith and Kerry Whitburn pursued a six-year hate campaign against Darley Oaks farm in Newchurch, Staffordshire. Whitburn's girlfriend, Josephine Mayo, was sentenced to four years for a lesser part in the campaign.


Almost 100 people connected to the farm were targeted. Explosive devices were sent to some, mail threatening to kill and maim to others. There were attacks on homes, cars and businesses. The relentless campaign culminated in the theft of the body of Gladys Hammond, a close relative of the Hall family who ran the farm, from her grave in October 2004.

For months, activists taunted the Halls, telling them the body would be returned if they closed the farm. The body was found only last week in woodland after Smith told the authorities where it was.

Sentencing the men, Judge Michael Pert described them as wicked and a danger to society. He said: "You assumed the right to dictate which lawful activities you would permit and which you would not. You sought to enforce your views not by lawful protest but by subjecting wholly innocent citizens to a campaign of terror."

Police welcomed the sentence. Detective Chief Inspector Nick Baker, who led the inquiry, said: "I hope the sentence sends a strong message to those tempted to engage in such extremism. Your cowardly tactics will not be tolerated. You will be caught and prosecuted to the full extent of the law."

The four pleaded guilty to conspiracy to blackmail - the first time such a charge has been used successfully against animal rights extremists.

At yesterday's sentencing hearing, Anthony Glass QC, prosecuting, described a "prolonged and vicious attack" against the Hall family, their relatives, friends and contacts. It began in 1999, when members of the protest group Save the Newchurch Guinea Pigs began to turn up at the Halls' farm with placards comparing their operation to a Nazi concentration camp. In September 1999, more than 600 guinea pigs were "liberated" in a raid.

The activists conducted painstaking research - helped by a mole at the DVLA - to trace anyone connected with the family and terrorise them. They threatened a cleaner who worked for them, leaving fake explosive devices outside her home and throwing paint bombs through her windows. They wrote threatening to attack her unless she stopped working for the Halls. "We're tooled up and ready, are you?" they wrote in one letter. The extremists left a doll with a knife in its chest and pins in its head outside the house of a farm labourer and spelled out his name in shotgun cartridges. Some of the hate mail was signed the Animal Liberation Front, others the Animal Rights Militia.

The extremists turned their attention to a business that collected milk from the Halls' dairy herd and, after searching the bins of one of its executives, found he had an embarrassing medical condition and published details on a website.

The fanatics threatened a family firm that supplied the Halls, and vowed to go after other members of the female darts team to which one of the bosses belonged.

But the most outrageous incident was stealing Mrs Hammond's body from the churchyard at Yoxall, Staffordshire, in October 2004. The activists wrote to the Halls telling them they could get the body back if they shut the farm. "This is a serious offer," they wrote. The blackmailers ensured the Halls knew they had the body by mentioning a toy left in the coffin.

In March 2005, Staffordshire police appeared on the BBC's Crimewatch programme asking the authors of anonymous letters sent to the Halls to prove they had the body. As soon as the programme ended, Smith drove Ablewhite and Whitburn to Brakenhurst Wood, close to Darley Oaks farm. Police were tailing them. They stopped them early in the morning and found a collapsible spade, head torch, balaclava and camouflage clothing in the car. On a mobile phone at Smith's home, they found a text message sent that morning. It read: "Flies hoverin [sic], cld be a while".

Police raided the homes of Ablewhite, 36, Smith, 39, Whitburn, 36, and Mayo, 38, in the West Midlands and Manchester. They found mobile phone and computer records which proved their part in the campaign.

Darley Oaks farm was forced to shut in January. Christopher Hall, one of the principal owners, said his family had felt "under siege" for years.

Mrs Hammond's daughter, Janet Palmer, told the court the theft of her mother's body was a "gruesome and alien thing to do", an act of "terrorism".

Gang members

Jon Ablewhite
Age: 36
12 years' jail


Son of a vicar. Studied social history and English at university. Worked with people with disabilities and as a peace activist. Won the title of "supply teacher of the year". Previously jailed for attack on the house of a brother of the MD of Huntingdon Life Sciences.

John Smith
Age: 39
2 years' jail


Born in London. After leaving school went to work for an animal shelter and got involved in the animal rights movement. Living in Hastings when the campaign began and moved to Wolverhampton to join in. Previous convictions for assault and criminal damage.

Kerry Whitburn
Age: 36
12 years' jail


Had a troubled upbringing and was bullied as a youngster. Left school aged 16 and became a petty criminal before qualifying as a psychiatric nurse. Previous convictions connected to his activism include harassment, criminal damage and public order offences.

Josephine Mayo
Age: 38
Four years' jail


Her defence argued she was a fringe player. But she admitted buying petrol which was used in an explosive device planted outside the house of a relative of the Halls. A shop worker and Whitburn's girlfriend. No previous convictions.




http://www.guardian.co.uk/animalrights/story/0,,1773153,00.html

[Animal 0]

c'est un peu dommage qu'ils aient employé une telle tactique car ça entâche beaucoup la réputation des activistes pour les droits des animaux!

[hop 0]

ça fait assez blague de mauvais goût, digne d'ados pas très futés un soir de beuverie. C'est étonnant de voir l'age de ces activistes.

néanmoins, 12 ans, c'est énorme !

[Animal 0]

effectivement "12 ans" c'est énorme, surtout si on compare cette "blague de mauvais goûts" à des crimes bien plus graves et pour lesquels certains ne font que quelques mois de prison !

-j'écoutais tout-à-l'heure aux nouvelles, l'histoire d'un autre pédophile qui a été arrêté récemment au Québec et qui s'en est pris à 18 fillettes, dont la plus jeune n'était âgée que de 2 semaines... Ce salopard s'en tirera sûrement, comme tant d'autres d'ailleurs, avec une sentence bonbon

[Animal 0]

bon, je viens de voir que Linda a posté cette nouvelle dans le forum public ! J'aurais préféré que cette nouvelle reste entre nous Les "dents pourries" et autres pourritures auront vite fait de l'ébruiter !

[animo-aequoanimo 0]

Comme la nouvelle provient de listes et qu'ils sont déjà sur plusieurs listes, ils l'auront probablement déjà lue sur les listes, Do.