Five animals rights activists orchestrated an international campaign of blackmail against companies who supplied Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS) in an attempt to close the laboratory down, a court has heard.
The hierarchy of the group called Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (SHAC) used threats such as claiming managers of the companies were paedophiles, hoax bombs parcels, criminal damage and threatening telephone calls to force them to cut links with the
animal testing company.
The aim was to target any company with a link to HLS, and the alleged blackmail would only stop when they put out a “capitulation statement” saying they would not supply the animal testing firm, the court was told.
Winchester Crown Court heard that Trevor Holmes (51), Gerrah Selby (20), Daniel Wadham (21), Gavin Medd-Hall (45) and Heather Nicholson (41) were all closely involved in the campaign from 2001 until 2007 which targeted companies in Britain and Europe.
They all deny conspiracy to blackmail, but three other members, Gregg Avery, Natasha Avery and Daniel Amos, have pleaded guilty to the charge, the court heard.
One of the features of intimidation included sending used sanitary towels in the post saying they were contaminated with the Aids virus and personal campaigns against the management of companies including daubing roads outside their homes with words such “puppy killer”.
Michael Bowes QC, prosecuting told the jury: “All of these features, the prosecution submit, had nothing to do with the lawful expression or freedom of speech and everything to do with blackmail and unwarranted demands with menaces.”
The court heard Nicholson, from Eversley in Hampshire, was a founder member of SHAC, who managed the “menacing” campaigns against the firms who were named on the group’s website.
Medd-Hall, from Croydon, south London, was a computer and research expert high up in SHAC who uncovered company links with HLS. Wadham, from Bromley in Kent, joined SHAC in 2005 and was in regular attendance at demonstrations.
Selby, from Chiswick in London, was also a regular activist at demonstrations in the UK and Europe, including a violent demo in Paris. Holmes, from Newcastle, was a senior member of SHAC who took part in criminal damage.
The case continues.
The full article contains 371 words and appears in Peterborough ET newspaper.
