12 years each for animal rights extremists

Three members of a “lunatic fringe” animal rights group were jailed for 12 years each in the UK today for their parts in a terror campaign, during which the body of an 82-year-old woman was stolen from her grave.

John Ablewhite, from Manchester, Kerry Whitburn, from Edgbaston, Birmingham, and John Smith, of Wolverhampton were each handed 12-year prison terms at Nottingham Crown Court this afternoon after they pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiring to blackmail the owners of a guinea pig breeding farm in Staffordshire.