Around thirty people have been arrested today for alleged offences relating to animal rights extremism in raids across the UK and mainland Europe. The police say the ‘substantial operation’ targeted burglary, conspiracy to blackmail, and offences against animal research operations.
Assistant Chief Constable Adrian Leppard, who commanded the operation, said: ‘In recent years, animal rights extremists have conducted sustained campaigns of harassment and intimidation against the animal research industry, seeking to achieve their objectives by creating a climate of fear’.
The arrests are a great step forward in the fight against extremists and positive news for the European research community, which has the right to conduct its work without the fear of harassment and intimidation. The arrests in the Netherlands and Belgium show that the law enforcement agencies are increasingly successful in co-operating on an international level too. This has become necessary since animal rights fanatics widened their range of activities to mainland Europe. Today’s police action was successful and much evidence should have been secured that will aid in prosecution.
Whilst not every arrest leads to a successful prosecution, we hope this is a major step in bringing animal rights extremists to justice.
According to the BBC tonight, seven activists have been charged with conspiracy to blackmail and two with blackmail:
The seven people charged with conspiracy to blackmail have been named as: Daniel Amos, 20, and Gerrah Selby, 19, both of Church Crookham, Hants; Linus Harrison, 21, and Grace Quantock, 19, both of Wokingham, Berks; Stephen Barclay, 50, of Redbridge Hollow, Oxford; Gavin Medd-Hall, 44, of Croydon, London, and Daniel Wadham, 20, of Brynmair, Aberdare.
They have all been released on conditional bail ahead of an appearance at Portsmouth Magistrates’ Court on 15 May.
The two charged with blackmail are: Dianne Jamieson, 59, of Ashton-on-Ribble, Lancashire - on conditional bail to appear at Preston Magistrates’ Court on a date to be confirmed - and Suzanne Jaggers, 35, of Skipton, North Yorkshire.
Two activists are still being questioned, one was released earlier with no charge, the rest were released on police bail.
Apparently there were no arrests in Holland or Belgium, but three properties were raided. One of the UK properties raided was in Boat Lane, Evesham, widely regarded as the HQ of SHAC.
Gotcha!
According to today’s Guardian, Greg and Natasha Avery, widely known as the leaders of SHAC, have now been charged with conspiracy to blackmail. We assume they were the two arrested on Tuesday who were still being questioned by police yesterday.
A couple have been charged with conspiring to blackmail after police raids targeting alleged animal rights extremists across the UK and Europe. Gregory Avery, 39, and Natasha Avery, 38, from Eversley in Hampshire, will appear before Portsmouth magistrates today. Seven others were charged with conspiracy to blackmail yesterday, and a further two were charged with blackmail, as part of Operation Achilles. Police said the Tuesday morning raids followed a two-year investigation into an alleged conspiracy whose targets included Huntingdon Life Sciences in Cambridgeshire.
Hat trick!
The 10th person to be charged with conspiracy to blackmail will appear in court today. Heather Nicholson aka James is a long-time activist who is Greg Avery’s ex-wife and the other SHAC leader. She didn’t seem to be on the list of those arrested in the dawn raids last week. According to the BBC she was ‘arrested after she attended Guildford police station’. Greg and Natasha Avery were remanded in custody after their court appearance last week.
