Three members of a British animal rights group have been jailed for 12 years each for their parts in a campaign during which the body of an 82-year-old woman was stolen from her grave.
John Ablewhite, from Manchester, Kerry Whitburn, from Edgbaston, Birmingham, and John Smith, of Wolverhampton were each handed 12-year prison terms at Nottingham Crown Court this afternoon after pleading guilty to a charge of conspiring to blackmail the owners of a guinea pig breeding farm in Staffordshire.
A fourth defendant Josephine Mayo, also from Edgbaston, was jailed for four years after admitting a lesser part in the six-year campaign against the Hall family, which bred the small animals for medical research purposes.
As part of the campaign against the family the body of Mrs Hammond, 82, the mother-in-law of one of the Hall brothers, was stolen from her grave in the churchyard of a nearby church in Yoxall, Staffs.
Her body was only recovered earlier this month after Smith revealed its location in nearby beauty spot in Cannock Chase to police.
Judge Michael Pert QC told the defendants they represented a danger to society.
The judge said: "Each of you has enjoyed the benefit of living in a democratic society. Our laws are made by parliament. If you don't like a particular law there are many lawful means by which you can seek to change it.
"What you four have done is something completely different. You assumed the right to dictate which lawful activities you would permit and which you would not. You thought to enforce your view not by reasoned debate or lawful protest, but by subjecting wholly innocent citizens to a campaign of terror."