View source for Save the Newchurch Guinea Pigs

{{Short description|Animal rights campaign in England}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Use British English|date=February 2017}}
{{Infobox civil conflict
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| place = Newchurch, [[Staffordshire]], England
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| causes = [[Animal Welfare]]
| status = Ended
| goals = Closure of Darley Oaks Farm. 
| result = Darley Oaks Farm ceases the breeding of Guinea Pigs for medical research. Four activists jailed for conspiracy to blackmail. 
| methods = 
* [[Protest]]
* [[Intimidation]]
* [[Body snatching]]
* [[Trespass]]
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'''Save the Newchurch Guinea Pigs''' ('''SNGP''') was a six-year campaign by British [[animal rights]] activists to close a farm in [[Newchurch, Staffordshire|Newchurch]], [[Staffordshire]] that bred [[guinea pig]]s for [[animal research]]. The owners, three brothers trading as David Hall and Partners, announced in August 2005 that they were closing the business as a result of the pressure from activists, which included harassment, damage to property, and threats of physical violence.

Set up in 1999, the campaign became notorious in October 2004 when the remains of Christopher Hall's mother-in-law were removed from her grave in St Peter's churchyard, [[Yoxall]], an act condemned by several animal rights groups, including Save the Newchurch Guinea Pigs itself.<ref name=BBCOct9>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/staffordshire/3728980.stm "Police comb desecrated grave site"], BBC News, October 9, 2004.</ref> The BBC and ''Burton Mail'' newspaper received correspondence in April 2005 signed the [[Animal Rights Militia]] claiming responsibility.<ref name=Ward/>

The remains were recovered in May 2006 when police searched woodland after receiving information from an activist they had arrested. Prosecutors were unable to prove that the disturbance of the grave was linked to the campaign, but four activists were jailed for conspiracy to blackmail, after admitting using the removal of the remains to put pressure on the Halls.<ref name=ReutersApr2007>[https://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/12/world/europe/12britain.html?_r=1&pagewanted=print&oref=slogin "British Animal Rights Protesters Admit Plotting Against Farmers"], Reuters, April 11, 2007.</ref>

==Background==
Save the Newchurch Guinea Pigs (SNGP) was started in 1999 after an [[Animal Liberation Front]] raid on the farm, during which 600 guinea pigs were removed. Video footage of the farm showed dirty, barren, crowded conditions inside the breeding sheds, as well as unhealthy and dying guinea pigs.<ref name=video>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DONT2Aucgs "Save the Newchurch Guinea Pigs"], [[YouTube]]. Retrieved February 26, 2008.</ref>

==The campaign==
Regular demonstrations took place on the roadside near the farm. The campaign published the contact details of people connected to the farm, from the owners and their family to the businesses that traded with them, and the local [[public house]]s that the Hall family frequented. Campaigners were urged to contact anyone associated with the farm, however loosely, and pressure them to end the relationship, a tactic known as secondary and tertiary targeting.<ref>Luckhurst, Tim. [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4159/is_20050626/ai_n14698062/pg_1 "FOCUS: He was not a scientist and did not harm animals"], ''The Independent on Sunday'', June 26, 2005.</ref>

The targets received thousands of  profane, threatening and insulting telephone calls, emails and letters, including false allegations of [[rape]].  Their [[dustbins]] were knocked,  [[fireworks]] were let off near the house in the middle of the night, and [[graffiti]] was sprayed on their property and around the village.  Police logged over 450 separate criminal acts over a two-year period.<ref name=Nicolson>Nicolson, Adam. [https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2005/aug/24/animalwelfare.nelsonmandela "Animal rights and wrongs"], ''The Guardian'', August 24, 2005.</ref><ref name=Ward>Ward, David. [https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2005/aug/24/animalwelfare.businessofresearch "'We give up,' says family besieged by activists"], ''The Guardian'', August 24, 2005.</ref>

===Removal of remains===
In October 2004, the remains of Christopher Hall's mother-in-law, Gladys Hammond, were taken from her grave in St Peter's churchyard, Yoxall. Several animal liberation groups, including [[SPEAK (animals)|SPEAK]] and the Newchurch campaign itself, publicly condemned the [[desecration]].<ref name=BBCOct9/> Six months later, in April 2005, the BBC and a local newspaper, the ''Burton Mail'', received anonymous correspondence claiming responsibility, signed by the [[Animal Rights Militia]], a banner used by activists willing to carry out acts of physical violence.<ref name=Ward/><!--The letters also threatened the lives of family members should the farm continue breeding guinea pigs.-->
In March 2005, on the BBC's Crimewatch programme, Staffordshire police asked the authors of anonymous letters sent to the Halls to prove they had the body. As soon as the programme ended, Smith drove Ablewhite and Whitburn to Brakenhurst Wood, close to Darley Oaks farm. Police were tailing them. They stopped them early in the morning and found a collapsible spade, head torch, balaclava and camouflage clothing in the car. On a mobile phone at Smith's home, they found a text message sent that morning. It read: "Flies hoverin [sic], cld be a while".
Police raided the homes of Ablewhite, 36, Smith, 39, Whitburn, 36, and Mayo, 38, in the West Midlands and Manchester. They found mobile phone and computer records which proved their part in the campaign.

In August 2005, the Hall family announced the farm would close and expressed hope that "the decision would prompt the return of [Hammond's] body."

===Criminal convictions===

====Conspiracy to blackmail====
Kerry Whitburn of Edgbaston, John Smith of Wolverhampton, John Ablewhite of Manchester, and Josephine Mayo of Staffordshire, members of the Save the Newchurch Guinea Pigs campaign group, pleaded guilty at [[Nottingham Crown Court]] to charges of conspiracy to blackmail. A [[Crown Prosecution Service]] spokesman said the prosecution could not prove the four had taken Gladys Hammond's remains, but they had admitted using the desecration to put pressure on the family.<ref name=ReutersApr2007/>

On 2 May 2006, Staffordshire police, acting on information provided by Smith, searched woodland near a German war cemetery at [[Cannock Chase]], near [[Hednesford]], and recovered Hammond's remains. The four were sentenced on 11 May 2006, Ablewhite, Whitburn, and Smith to 12 years each, and Mayo to four years. While sentencing them, the judge said that they had also threatened to desecrate the grave of the husband of the Hall family's cleaner.<ref name=Britten>Britten, Nick. [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/05/12/nanim12.xml "Animal rights gang jailed for 12 years to deter 'lunatics'"]{{dead link|date=July 2021|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}, ''The Daily Telegraph'', May 12, 2006.</ref>

====Intimidation====
On 22 September 2006, John Smith's girlfriend, Madeline Buckler, was sentenced to two years in jail for "intimidation of people connected with an animal research organisation," a charge introduced under the Serious and Organised Crime Act 2005. Buckler was found to have sent the Halls menacing letters in November 2005.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/staffordshire/5370574.stm "Activist jailed over farm letters"], BBC News, September 22, 2006.</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|Animals}}
*[[Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty]]
*[[SPEAK (animals)|SPEAK]]
*[[Consort beagles]]
*[[Save the Hill Grove Cats]]
*[[Shamrock Farm]]
*[[Leaderless resistance]]

==Notes==
{{reflist}}
<!--
== References ==
* [http://www.staffordshire.police.uk/news/2005/03_mar/news540.htm Injunction against animal rights activists could lead to five years in prison if contravened.]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/staffordshire/.stm Home-made bomb designer arrested.]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/staffordshire/.stm Petrol bomb sent to home.]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/staffordshire/.stm Minority of protestors agree to limit protests.]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/staffordshire/.stm DVLA insider, Barry Saul Dickinson aged 34, who helped protestors find farm worker addresses gets five months.]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/staffordshire/.stm Animal rights people lob fireworks at someones house at 2am in the morning.]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/staffordshire/.stm Animal rights activists spread malicious rumours that a fuel supplier is a paedophile.]
* [http://www.burtonmail.co.uk/detail.asp?cat=General%20News&id= Worried cleaner leaves her farm job.]
* [http://www.burtonmail.co.uk/detail.asp?cat=General%20News&id= Tony Blair is no friend of animal rights protestors.]
* [http://www.burtonmail.co.uk/detail.asp?cat=General%20News&id= Protestors disrupted annual event at nearby golf club.]
* [http://www.burtonmail.co.uk/detail.asp?cat=General%20News&id= Protestor jailed for a month.]
* [http://www.burtonmail.co.uk/detail.asp?cat=General%20News&id= Protestors' website is closed by Staffordshire Police.]
* [http://www.burtonmail.co.uk/detail.asp?cat=General%20News&id= Arson attack at farm nearly kills firefighters.]
* [http://www.burtonmail.co.uk/detail.asp?cat=General%20News&id= Workers house is vandalised.]
* [http://www.burtonmail.co.uk/detail.asp?cat=General%20News&id= Protestors paint the countryside red.]
* [http://www.burtonmail.co.uk/detail.asp?cat=General%20News&id= Farm cleaner has bricks thrown through her windows.]
* [http://www.burtonmail.co.uk/detail.asp?cat=General%20News&id= Bomb attack on houses close to farm cleaner.]
* [http://www.burtonmail.co.uk/detail.asp?cat=General%20News&id= Farm worker harassed for two years.]
* [http://www.burtonmail.co.uk/detail.asp?cat=General%20News&id= Protestors orchestrate mass posting of complaint letters to Staffordshire Police with false addresses.]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/staffordshire/.stm Men admit farm blackmail charges.]
*[https://www.theguardian.com/animalrights/story/0,,,00.html "Four animal rights activists jailed"], ''Press Association'', May 11, 2006
* [http://www.netcu.org.uk/media/article.jsp?id=156 "Second animal rights extremist sentenced under new SOCPA legislation"], ''The National Extremism Tactical Coordination Unit'', September 22, 2006.
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/.stm BBC News: In pictures - Protest in Newchurch]
* [https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2006/may/12/animalwelfare.topstories3 :Jail for animal rights extremists ]
-->

==Further reading==
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DONT2Aucgs "Save the Newchurch Guinea Pigs Campaign"], [[YouTube]].
*[http://www.shac.net Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty] (SHAC)
*[http://www.speakcampaigns.org SPEAK: The Voice For Animals]
*Hall, Lee. ''Capers in the Churchyard: Animal Rights Advocacy in the Age of Terror''. Nectar Bat Press, 2006. {{ISBN|0-9769159-1-X}}
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{{Animal rights|state=collapsed}}
{{atestingend}}

[[Category:Animal Liberation Front]]
[[Category:Animal rights protests]]
[[Category:Animal testing in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Anti-vivisection movement]]
[[Category:Laboratory rodents]]
[[Category:Guinea pigs]]