Five animal rights activists who waged a campaign of abuse, harassment and blackmail against staff linked to Huntingdon Life Sciences were sentenced to between 15 months and six years in prison today.
The campaign included hoax bombs posted to the homes and offices of staff, criminal damage, threats of violence and abusive telephone calls.
Sarah Whitehead, 53, Nicole Vosper, 22, Thomas Harris, 27, Jason Mullan, 32, and Nicola Tapping, 29, were all members of Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (Shac).
A sixth member of the conspiracy, Alfie Fitzpatrick, at 21 the youngest member of the group, received a 12-month prison sentence suspended for two years and was ordered to complete 100 hours of community work.
The sentencing hearing at Winchester crown court was told that the six waged a wide-ranging international conspiracy of intimidation against a host of supply companies to force the closure of Cambridge-based HLS, using Shac as a front.
Some company directors had leaflets distributed near their home falsely telling neighbours they were convicted paedophiles and others had used tampons sent through the post saying the blood was HIV positive.
The activists daubed words such as puppy killer, murderer and scum on the houses, cars and nearby roads of those they targeted. 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 the damage and increased security to about 40 companies targeted was £12.6m, the court heard.
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 badges such as the Animal Liberation Front or the Animal Rights Militia.
Whitehead, from Littlehampton, West Sussex, Vosper, from Newquay, Cornwall, and Harris, from Ringwood, Hampshire, admitted conspiracy to blackmail companies and suppliers linked to the Cambridge-based company between 2001 and 2008.
The Guardian
