No Prison For Beagle Rescuers After Guilty Verdict In Burglary Case
- Animal Rising Press
- 7 hours ago
- 3 min read
Four defendants have all avoided immediate custodial sentences after being convicted of Burglary, with sentences ranging from suspended custodial sentences to conditional discharges.
Yesterday, following a 7-day trial at Peterborough Crown Court, four defendants were convicted of burglary after deliberation lasting approximately 5 hours. The trial came after they rescued 18 beagle puppies from MBR Acres, a site breeding animals for testing, in December 2022 [1].
This is the third of four trials in this case. The first trial group of five defendants were convicted, and four of them are awaiting sentencing on 19/2/26 [2], whereas the second group of four defendants were acquitted [3] [4].
This landmark legal case is the first time the “Open Rescue” tactic has seen a courtroom inside the UK; all defendants in the case relied on the defence of “honesty” and, unsuccessfully, denied the element of dishonesty required to prove guilt in charges under the Theft Act 1968 [5] [6].
Following more than a week of trial, Ash Faulkner, Michael Sykes, Matilda Dunlop, and Ben Thomas have all been spared immediate custody by His Honour Judge Enright.
Ash Faulkner was sentenced to nine months in custody, suspended for a period of 18 months, 180 hours of unpaid work, and a victim surcharge of £187.
Ben Thomas was sentenced to nine months in custody, suspended for a period of 18 months, 140 hours of unpaid work, and a victim surcharge of £187.
Michael Sykes and Matilda Dunlop were both sentenced to an 18-month conditional discharge and a victim surcharge of £26.
Speaking after the verdict, Ash Faulkner, 34, an Animal Protection Worker from West Yorkshire, said:
"I'm grateful not to have been imprisoned today, and for the Judge to acknowledge my character to be exemplary. It's difficult to understand how the jury could convict us, but I know my actions were honest and moral, and the wider public clearly supports us.
Rather than be disappointed that we have been convicted, we must instead come together and continue to raise awareness and apply pressure to the Government to shut down MBR Acres, and ensure animal testing is finally left in the past.”
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.
A petition calling on the Home Office to shut down MBR Acres and rehome all the beagles organised by Animal Rising has gathered more than 165,000 signatures [7]. One further trial in this case is scheduled to begin on 23rd February.
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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.
For more information or further comments, please contact:
Nathan (Press Back Office) +44 1225 29 6691
Notes To The Editor
[2] Nathan McGovern, Hannah Hunt, Eben Lazarus, and Lewis Elliot face sentencing in February, with Ben Newman’s sentencing date TBC following the outcome of other, similar, trials he is a defendant in.
[5] Open Rescue is a means of rescuing animals from suffering and captivity inside laboratories, breeding facilities and industrial farms that does not hide the identity of the rescuing humans, who will hand themselves in to the police once the animals have been taken to safety. It was introduced as a tactic by Animals Victoria in Australia to show nonviolence and transparent tactics by those taking action for animals.
In the context of the UK, the open rescue tactic is an attempt to create strong case law foundations to give a legal basis for the rescue of animals from animal testing, farms, or other industries. The potential legal ramifications of trial outcomes could force large-scale changes to UK law.
