CPS charging strategy in Darley Oaks case leads to long sentences
11/05/2006
The first ever successful use of conspiracy to blackmail charges against animal rights extremists has seen four people receive substantial sentences in the Darley Oaks farm case. Their campaign against the farm culminated in the desecration of Gladys Hammond's grave.
Rather than apply many charges for a series of offences over six years, the CPS charged each with a single serious charge which encompassed the entire campaign and carried a high sentencing tariff. The defendants pleaded guilty last month.
The Director of Public Prosecutions, Ken Macdonald QC, said: "The CPS specifically chose a charge which would allow the judge sufficient sentencing powers to reflect the seriousness of these offences and the harm and distress caused to so many people over so much time.
"This was a vicious and sinister campaign to stop a legitimate business. It deliberately inflicted sustained misery on the families and communities involved. Blackmail as a way of promoting animal rights or any other cause will meet the firmest response from us.
"This case sets a marker. CPS Prosecutors are using the law to its fullest extent to ensure that animal rights extremists involved in serious crime are eligible for very long sentences of imprisonment."
John Ablewhite, John Smith, Kerry Whitburn and Josephine Mayo pleaded guilty at Nottingham Crown Court last month to conspiracy to blackmail. Ablewhite, Smith and Whitburn were today jailed for 12 years each and Mayo was jailed for 4 years. The charges encompassed the whole campaign against Darley Oaks farm in Staffordshire. The campaign centred on harassment and intimidation of the Hall family who ran the business (David Hall & Partners) as well as their family and their business partners. There were many serious incidents over a six year period including theft of livestock, threats, vandalism, an incendiary device and most infamously of all the desecration of the grave of Mrs Gladys Hammond, the mother-in-law of Christopher Hall.
Mrs Hammond's grave was disturbed and her remains stolen in October 2004. They were finally located in a forest at Cannock Chase last week.
Notes to Editors
- For further details or clarification, please contact CPS Press Office on 020 7796 8105.
- The CPS decided the defendants should be charged with Conspiracy to Blackmail, contrary to Section 1(1) of the Criminal Law Act 1977. This allowed the judge to hand down a sentence of up to 14 years in jail for each defendant.
