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Second Guilty Verdict For Beagle Puppy Rescuers In Watershed Legal Case

Defendants (L-R) Ash Faulkner, Ben Thomas, Matilda Dunlop, and Michael Sykes.
Defendants (L-R) Ash Faulkner, Ben Thomas, Matilda Dunlop, and Michael Sykes.

Second Guilty Verdict For Beagle Puppy Rescuers In Watershed Legal Case

  • After a 7-day trial at Peterborough Crown Court, four defendants have been 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].

  • The defendants are due to be sentenced tomorrow morning, also at Peterborough Crown Court.

  • This is the third of four trials in this case. The first trial group of five defendants were convicted, whereas the second group of four defendants were acquitted [2] [3].

  • 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 [4] [5].


Following more than a week of trial, Ash Faulkner, Michael Sykes, Matilda Dunlop, and Ben Thomas have been convicted of burglary by a jury of 12 of their peers at Peterborough 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.


Defendants also described reading about the ineffectiveness of, and the lack of empirical basis for, animal testing in sources such as the British Medical Journal, Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics, and the National Institute of Health [6].


This verdict comes the day before a scheduled debate and vote in the House of Lords over reclassifying Animal Testing sites as Key National Infrastructure under the Public Order Act (2023). Green Party Peer Baroness Bennett has tabled a rare fatal motion against the amendment [7].


Two defendants, Mx Dunlop and Mr Sykes, were represented by Barristers Maria Liddiard and Hannah Webb, both of One Pump Court, respectively. Ash Faulkner and Ben Thomas represented themselves.


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 [8]. One further trial in this case is scheduled to begin on 23rd February.


ENDS


Word count: 385


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.

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



[4] 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.







 
 
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