Conviction In Historic Burglary Case For Rescue Of Beagle Dogs From Animal Testing
- Animal Rising Press
- 3 days ago
- 2 min read
In June 2022, three men rescued five beagle puppies from MBR Acres [1]
In the fifth and final “Beagle Rescue Trial”, three defendants have all been convicted of burglary following several days of trial. The three were charged with the burglary of five dogs from MBR Acres in June 2022.
The jury passed a majority 10-2 verdict after nearly 10 hours of deliberation.
The conviction comes as pressure mounts on the Home Office to shut down MBR Acres, the UK’s only facility breeding dogs for animal testing, with over 180,000 people signing a petition and dozens of MPs signing an open letter [2] [3].
The defendants are due to be sentenced tomorrow (27/3/26) at 14:00.
Following a lengthy trial, as the British public continues to be dismayed at the use of beagle puppies for animal testing, Dan Kidby, Ben Newman, and Beau Sebastian were all convicted today at Cambridge Crown Court.
During the trial, the jury heard evidence as to each defendant’s beliefs about animal testing and MBR Acres, more specifically. Defendants described what they believed to be a “bleeding license”, which enables the facility to conduct “terminal blood testing” on animals, whilst also harvesting “bio-products” from healthy dogs on site.
The defence case in this trial relied on the defence of “honesty” and, unsuccessfully, denied the element of dishonesty required to prove guilt in charges under the Theft Act 1968 [4].
A similar facility in Italy, Green Hill, operated by the same parent company, was shut down in 2015, and senior employees were jailed after undercover footage revealed illegal breaches of regulation on the site. MBR Acres, itself, has had undercover footage of conditions captured and published in national newspapers in the UK [5].
With the Beagle Rescue Trials concluding, Animal Rising has renewed calls - alongside other organisations - for the government to step in and safely rehome all the dogs at MBR Acres, alongside shutting down the facility. A parliamentary debate on the use of dogs in animal testing is scheduled for April 27th, after a petition organised by Camp Beagle surpassed 100,000 signatures [6].
ENDS
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About Animal Rising
The group has used a variety of civil disobedience and nonviolent direct action tactics, notably blockading McDonald's distribution centres in May 2021, blockading dairy industry sites in September 2022, rescuing 23 beagle puppies from the animal testing industry in 2022, delaying the Grand National race in 2023, rescuing lambs belonging to King Charles II in May 2023, and carrying out the UK’s largest undercover farm investigation in 2024.
High-quality pictures and videos: https://show.pics.io/animal-rising-breaking-news
Footage from inside MBR Acres: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1dJhwIlmJ5uR9vwuKXGJ3VT3sxYmX0JT-?usp=drive_link
All images and videos in this file, on our social media, and website can be used with credit to Animal Rising under ‘fair use’ for the purposes of reporting.
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Nathan (Press Back Office) +44 1225 29 6691
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