Home » Bulletin 2004
UK activists desecrate grave
UK animal rights extremists have been condemned after stealing the buried body of old woman.
Animal rights activists campaigning against a UK laboratory animal breeder have dug up a grave and removed the remains of an elderly woman. An animal rights group called Save the Newchurch Guinea Pigs has been campaigning against David Hall, a company based near Burton-on-Trent that breeds specific pathogen free guinea pigs, although they have denied any involvement in this incident. One night in October, the grave of Mrs Gladys Hammond at St Peters Church in nearby Yoxhall was desecrated and her remains removed. Mrs Hammond, who died in 1997, was the mother-in-law of one of the Hall brothers who run the guinea pig breeding business.
The UK government swiftly condemned this latest outrage by animal rights extremists. Home Secretary David Blunkett, speaking in the House of Commons, said, "I think the House would want to join together in condemning the bestial extremists who desecrated this grave and we send our sympathy to the family of Mrs Hammond." A spokesman for the Hall family described those behind the crime as "callous and sick."
A few days later, two well-known extremists, John Curtin and John Abelwhite, were arrested and questioned for several hours before being released on bail. In 1984, John Curtin was arrested for attempting to dig up the grave of a leading fox-hunter. Curtin denied desecrating Mrs Hammond's grave and said, "I find what happened to her revolting and appalling like any other normal person.....I would urge whoever has the remains to return them." However, he also said, "But don't get me wrong. I think the Hall family are murderers. What they do is disgusting and I want them stopped."