Desecrated grave of
Gladys Hammond
Photo: Staffordshire Police/PA
A fourth animal rights activist has today admitted charges in connection with a six year terror campaign against the owners of a guinea pig farm which culminated in the desecration and theft of a pensioner's body from her grave.
Josephine Mayo, 38, of Spring Bank Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham, pleaded guilty at Nottingham Crown Court to a charge of conspiring to blackmail David Hall and Partners and others connected to Darley Oaks Farm in Newchurch, Staffordshire between September 1999 and September 2005 .
Kerry Whitburn, 36, of Summer Road, Edgbaston, John Smith, 39, of Leicester Street, Wolverhampton, and John Ablewhite, 36, of Hawley Street, Manchester, admitted the same charges during a hearing before Judge Michael Pert QC yesterday.
All four defendants will be sentenced during a two day hearing before the same court on May 10 and 11.
The four have formally admitted conspiring together "with a view to cause loss to another" by making unwarranted demands for the closure of the farm with menaces.
It is understood that the prosecution is unable to prove that Ablewhite, Whitburn, Smith and Mayo were responsible for the theft of the pensioner's remains, but can prove they were all aware of it.
Prosecutor Anthony Glass QC confirmed that the desecration of the grave was "one of the major planks" of the Crown's case against the four, although none has admitted direct responsibility.
Judge Pert said on Monday he would be sentencing them as "determined and cold-blooded defenders of their perceived cause".
Ablewhite, Smith and Whitburn were told by Judge Pert to expect sentences of up to 12 years in prison for their part in the blackmail plot. The maximum sentence is one of 14 years.
Mayo was told her part warranted no more than six years behind bars.
The campaign of intimidation and harassment against the Hall family and their employees at Darley Oaks began in 1999 as they faced demands to close the site where guinea pigs were bred for medical research.
The family was subjected to regular demonstrations from protesters and a violent campaign of intimidation and harassment was launched.
In October 2004 the campaign peaked when the remains of 82-year-old Gladys Hammond - the mother-in-law of one of the brothers who owns the farm - were dug up and removed at night from the graveyard of a church in Yoxall, Staffordshire.
The family was told that Mrs Hammond's remains would be returned if its guinea pig operation ceased.
In August last year, nearly a year after Mrs Hammond's grave was desecrated, the family decided enough was enough and decided to stop breeding guinea pigs.
Darley Oaks officially reverted to traditional farming in January, but there has still been no sign of the pensioner's body.
Whitburn, Smith, Ablewhite and Mayo had previously denied the offences and were due to stand trial later this month.
The three men were remanded in custody. Mayo was granted conditional bail to allow for the preparation of pre-sentence reports.
Fanatic John Ablewhite, a vicar's son and supply teacher who has served time in prison, was one of the leaders of the gang who terrorised the Hall family.
The shaven-headed 36-year-old appeared at a "victory parade" in Burton-upon-Trent, Staffordshire, last September after being released following his initial arrest on the blackmail charge - and vowed to subject future pupils to his views.
He told supporters: "When I am invited back into the classroom to teach -- which I will -- I will teach children about animal rights and veganism."
Ablewhite pleaded guilty with two other activists yesterday to a charge of conspiring to blackmail David Hall and Partners and others connected to Darley Oaks Farm.
The guilty plea by a fourth activist means legal restrictions no longer apply to reporting Ablewhite's background.
Ablewhite's father, the Reverend Stanley Ablewhite, has refused to comment.
John Ablewhite served nine months in prison in 2001 for attacking the home of Leonard Cass, the brother of Brian Cass, managing director of the medical research company Huntingdon Life Sciences.
The hardened activist, whose most recent address was in Hawley Street, Levenshulme, Manchester, has worked as a supply teacher at several schools in the West Midlands.
Speaking last year, Lichfield MP Michael Fabricant, whose constituency includes Newchurch, called for Ablewhite to be barred from teaching.
The MP said: "I hope that LEAs will use common sense about employing someone who is unrepentant about crimes they have committed, and believe fanatically in one-sided arguments.
"Teachers have a duty to educate, not to brainwash.
"I cannot imagine he would present a balanced argument that tens of thousands of lives are saved through cures of diseases which unfortunately have to be tested on animals first."
The terrifying hate campaign against the Newchurch guinea pig farm, which culminated in the theft of Gladys Hammond's body, included a paedophile smear campaign, death threats, hate mail, malicious phone calls, hoax bombs and arson attacks.
Staffordshire Police spent millions of pounds protecting the Hall family and investigating crimes committed against them and people or businesses connected to the farm.
The campaign started in September 1999 when animal rights extremists stole up to 600 guinea pigs from the farm. The Animal Liberation Front said it had received an anonymous note from activists claiming the burglary was the start of a campaign against the farm.
The Save the Newchurch Guinea Pig campaign was set up a week or two later in a bid to force the Halls to close down their business.
In parallel with regular protests at the site, which continued until January this year when the farm ceased breeding operations, activists began a systematic campaign of intimidation.
When the Hall family refused to capitulate, farm property was attacked and employees and suppliers targeted in an all-out effort to force the farm's closure.
A violent campaign of intimidation ensued with people besieged at night inside their own homes.
Bricks were thrown through windows, cars paint-stripped, roads daubed with abusive graffiti, local pubs attacked and explosives let off at night leaving local residents sleepless.
False rumours were spread in the Cannock area about a self-employed fuel provider who supplied the farm. Police blamed animal rights activists for distributing leaflets to his neighbours, falsely alleging he was a convicted paedophile.
There was a red paint bomb attack on the home of an 86-year-old relative and a failed arson attack in November 2003 on a home linked to the farm. Army bomb disposal experts had to be called in after a dozen fireworks were hurled at the address in Burton-on-Trent.
John Hall admitted that his daughter, who had never worked in the industry and was living away from home at the time, had been targeted.
He blamed animal rights activists for intimidating the company she was working for, making her leave, and trashing the works car she had been provided with.
The campaign stepped up a gear when the body of Gladys Hammond was dug up and removed from its grave in St Peter's Churchyard in October 2004.
The following year, in January 2005, named campaigners and animal rights organisations were banned from going within 250 metres of premises occupied by the Hall's employees and their suppliers or contractors by a High Court judge.
Some of the defendants named in the action brought by the farm owners agreed to their protests outside the site entrance being limited in time, frequency and the number of demonstrators.
Between January 2003 and August 2005 alone, Staffordshire Police recorded more than 460 incidents at the farm or "secondary targets" and arrested 60 people in connection with their investigations.
Copyright - Press Association 2006