Save the Newchurch Guinea Pigs

File:Newchurch dying guinea pig.JPG

A dying guinea pig. Picture allegedly taken inside Darley Oaks Farm during a raid.

Save the Newchurch Guinea Pigs (SNGP) was a campaign by British animal rights activists to close a farm in Newchurch, Staffordshire, that bred guinea pigs for vivisection and animal testing. The farm closed in 2006 as a result of the six-year campaign. Soon after five members of the group were jailed on charges of conspiracy, blackmail and intimidation.

Background

SNGP was launched in 1999 after a raid by the Animal Liberation Front on David and Christopher Hall’s Darley Oaks Farm, during which several hundred animals were removed. Video footage, activists claim, showed dirty, crowded conditions inside the breeding sheds, with many unhealthy and dying guinea pigs being eaten alive by others. The owners denied this.

The guinea pigs were sold to laboratories for animal testing. Animal rights activists set up SNGP with the intention of halting the guinea pig breeding at Darley Oaks.

The campaign

Regular demonstrations took place on the roadside near the farm. The campaign published the contact details of anyone connected to the farm, from the owners and their family to the businesses that traded with them, and the local public houses that the Hall family frequented. Campaigners were urged to contact those associated with the farm – however loosley – and pressure them to halt their association. This tactic led to those named receiving thousands of phone-calls and letters, as well as unsolicited junk-mail, false allegations of paedophilia, hoax bombs and death threats (including threats against children). Fireworks were let off by the house in the middle of the night, and graffiti was sprayed on their property and around the village. Police logged over 450 separate criminal acts over a two year period.

In 2004, the remains of Christopher Hall's mother-in-law, Gladys Hammond, were taken from her grave. Several animal liberation groups, including SPEAK, publicly condemned the desecration, but the Hall family and media organisations received correspondence from the Animal Rights Militia claiming responsibility. The letters also threatened the lives of family members should the farm continue breeding guinea pigs.

In late 2005, the Hall family announced the farm would close and expressed hope "the decision would prompt the return of [Hammond's] body"; the business ceased on 20 January 2006.

Criminal convictions

Theft of Gladys Hammond's remains from Yoxall Churchyard

Four people (Kerry Whitburn of Edgbaston, John Smith of Wolverhampton, John Ablewhite of Manchester, and Josephine Mayo of Staffordshire), who were known members of the Save the Newchurch Guinea Pigs campaign group, pleaded guilty at Nottingham Crown Court to charges of conspiracy to blackmail. After the guilty pleas, a Crown Prosecution Service spokesman said: "Their actions went well beyond lawful protesting and persuading, they threatened death and violence, damaged property and used explosive devices." He also said the prosecution could not prove the four actually physically stole the body of Gladys Hammond, but that they admitted using the theft as part of their campaign.

However, on 2 May 2006, the week before the four were due to be sentenced, Staffordshire Police, acting on information provided by Smith, searched woodland near a German War Cemetery at Cannock Chase, near Hednesford and recovered human remains. These were later confirmed to be Mrs Hammond's body.

The four were sentenced (on 11 May 2006: Ablewhite, Whitburn, and Smith to 12 years each and Mayo to four years); Detective Chief Inspector Nick Baker, who led the investigation for Staffordshire Police, said: "All four sentenced today have accepted their part in this criminal campaign" and he added: "Smith, Ablewhite and Whitburn were the key players and were clearly involved in the desecration of Mrs Hammond’s grave."

Intimidation and other illegal activities

On 22 September 2006, Smith's girlfriend, Madeline Buckler, was sentenced to two years in jail for intimidation of persons associated with testing on animals. Known by police to be active in the Save the Newchurch Guinea Pigs campaign, Buckler was found to have sent the Hall family menacing letters after the arrest of her boyfriend. On her sentencing, the National Extremism Tactical Coordination Unit described Save The Newchurch Guinea Pigs as posing as a legitimate front for a criminal campaign.

References

• Injunction against animal rights activists could lead to five years in prison if contravened.
• Home-made bomb designer arrested.
• Petrol bomb sent to home.
• Minority of protestors agree to limit protests.
• DVLA insider, Barry Saul Dickinson aged 34, who helped protestors find farm worker addresses gets five months.
• Animal rights people lob fireworks at someones house at 2am in the morning.
• Animal rights activists spread malicious rumours that a fuel supplier is a paedophile.
• Worried cleaner leaves her farm job.
• Tony Blair is no friend of animal rights protestors.
• Protestors disrupted annual event at nearby golf club.
• Protestor jailed for a month.
• Protestors' website is closed by Staffordshire Police.
• Arson attack at farm nearly kills firefighters.
• Workers house is vandalised.
• Protestors paint the countryside red.
• Farm cleaner has bricks thrown through her windows.
• Bomb attack on houses close to farm cleaner.
• Farm worker harassed for two years.
• Protestors orchestrate mass posting of complaint letters to Staffordshire Police with false addresses.
• Men admit farm blackmail charges.
• "Four animal rights activists jailed", Press Association, May 11, 2006
• "Second animal rights extremist sentenced under new SOCPA legislation", The National Extremism Tactical Coordination Unit, September 22, 2006.
• BBC News: In pictures - Protest in Newchurch