Animal rights activists face 14 years jail for blackmail

They threatened to accuse managers of being paedophiles to force them to cut links with the research firm, which conducts tests on animals for the drugs industry.

They made threatening phone calls, posted hoax bombs and sanitary towels they claimed were infected with HIV, and daubed roads outside the homes of their targets with slogans such as "Puppy Killer".

Winchester Crown Court heard that the gang were members of Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (Shac).

Gerrah Selby, 20, Daniel Wadham, 21, Gavin Medd-Hall, 45, and Heather Nicholson, 41, orchestrated the campaign between 2001 and last year.

They were found guilty of conspiracy to blackmail and face up to 14 years in prison when they are sentenced next month. Trevor Holmes, 51, was cleared of the charge but three others had already pleaded guilty.

The jury spent 33 hours and 48 minutes deliberating, and one juror refused to enter court when the verdicts were announced.

Shac had links to similar animal activist organisations in Europe and the US. The court heard that the aim of the gang was to attack suppliers of or any company with a secondary link to Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS), based in Cambridge.

Nicholson, from Eversley, Hampshire, was a founder member of Shac who managed the "menacing" campaigns against firms, which were named on the group's website. The blackmail would only stop when they put out a "capitulation statement" saying they would not supply HLS, the jury heard.

Medd-Hall, from Croydon, was a computer and research expert who uncovered the links that firms had with HLS. Wadham, of Bromley, regularly attended demonstrations against the firms and HLS.

Selby, from Chiswick, was also a regular activist at protests in Britain and Europe, while Holmes, from Newcastle-upon-Tyne, was alleged to be a senior member of Shac who took part in criminal damage.

Outside court, Crown Prosecution Service lawyer Alastair Nisbet said: "The sole aim of Shac was to close down the business of Huntingdon Life Sciences because they use animals in the testing of pharmaceutical products. That testing is licensed and is lawful.

"The victims were carrying out their normal business but were nonetheless described as 'criminals' and subjected to a sustained campaign of threats, intimidation and damage to their property.

"Some of those victims have, with considerable courage, come to court to give very moving evidence."

He said police had carried out a "long and very detailed" investigation: "The defendants concealed their activities by using encryption and file-wiping software on their computers, and by the destruction of any documents that they thought might incriminate them."