Activists jailed for terrorising staff at animal laboratory

Five animal rights activists who intimidated companies linked to Huntingdon Life Sciences in an attempt to close down the animal testing lab were jailed today for between six years and 15 months.

Sarah Whitehead, 53, Nicole Vosper, 22, Thomas Harris, 27, Jason Mullan, 32, and Nicola Tapping, 29, were all members of Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty.

The youngest member of the conspiracy, Alfie Fitzpatrick, 21, received a 12-month prison sentence suspended for two years and was ordered to do 100 hours of community work.

Winchester crown court heard that the six waged an international conspiracy of intimidation against several supply companies to force the closure of Cambridge-based HLS. There were realistic hoax bombs posted to staff and offices, criminal damage, threats of violence and abusive telephone calls.

Some company directors had leaflets distributed near their home falsely telling neighbours they were convicted paedophiles and others received used tampons wih notes saying the blood was HIV positive.

Others had words such as "puppy killer", "murderer" and "scum" daubed on their houses or cars.

The activists said the abuse would only stop when the company issued a capitulation statement on the Shac website and cut links with the lab. The total cost of damage and increased security was £12.6 million.

The six were part of a larger conspiracy involving the founder members of Shac, Gregg and Natasha Avery and Heather Nicholson, who used the organisation as a front to intimidate companies under names such as the Animal Liberation Front or the Animal Rights Militia.

Whitehead, of Littlehampton, West Sussex, Vosper, of Newquay, Cornwall, and Harris, of Ringwood, Hampshire, admitted conspiracy to blackmail companies between 2001 and 2008.

Mullan, of Holloway, Tapping, of Ringwood, and Fitzpatrick, of Solihull, all pleaded guilty to conspiracy.