A YOUNG woman from Newquay has admitted her involvement in an extremist campaign of intimidation aimed at closing down an animal testing lab.

Nicole Vosper, 22, of Bay View Terrace, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to blackmail before a trial was due to begin at Winchester Crown Court on Wednesday last week.

She was one of a group of six animal rights activists who were targeting organisations they believed had links with controversial research company Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS) in Cambridgeshire.

The defendants had been taking part in some peaceful protests as part of the group SHAC (Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty).

'Sinister'

But they also employed "more sinister tactics involving criminal damage, intimidation and threats against employees at both their workplace and home addresses", according to the National Extremism Tactical Coordination Unit, which helps police with cases involving protests.

Homes of staff from firms supplying HLS were targeted with abusive telephone calls and criminal damage and threats of violence were also used in an attempt to force companies to cut links with the organisation.

It is understood that Ms Vosper was arrested and bailed following 32 separate police raids, involving 700 police officers in the UK, The Netherlands and Belgium on May 1, 2007.

She will be sentenced along with the other members of the group on October 21. The maximum jail term for conspiracy to blackmail is 14 years.

Detective Chief Inspector Andy Robbins, of Kent Police, who led the investigation, said: "We are satisfied with court proceedings and pleased that the defendants have now accepted that their actions went way beyond what could reasonably be considered peaceful protest.

"We hope the events today send a clear message that harassment and intimidation has no place in peaceful protest and will result in prosecution.

"Everyone is entitled to express their views and the police will continue to facilitate peaceful protest, but we won't accept a minority of people taking the law into their own hands in an attempt to further their cause."

Alastair Nisbet, of the Crown Prosecution Service, added: "The guilty pleas entered by the defendants reflect the strength of the Crown Prosecution Service's case against them.

"The CPS recognises the right of every citizen lawfully and peacefully to protest against activities with which they do not agree. These cases reflect the robust way in which those who break the law in pursuit of protest will be prosecuted."

The Cornish Guardian was unable to contact Ms Vosper, who has been in prison at HMP Bronzefield in Middlesex since March 19 last year, before going to press.

Nobody was available for SHAC either.

However, a page on the social networking website My Space, called 'Support Nicole', states: "Nicole is a green anarchist with an irrepressible love for the wild. She has been fighting for animal communities since she was a child, starting her first animal rights group at school aged 10. Nicole has been vegan since she was 14 to nourish her body, revitalise the land, rivers and forests and end the mass domestication and exploitation of animals of which modern-day meat eating is based upon.

"She is passionate about plant medicines and has fought against HLS not only for the 500 innocent lives taken a day but for the people harmed by industrial medicine and its side effects, as well as the dangerous ecological impacts of pharmaceutical medicines."

Supporter

One supporter on the anarchistnews.org website wrote: "Good on you Nicole, you see the beauty in all life, your defiance against its oppressors is noble and courageous."

Ms Vosper's Facebook page reveals that she had a pre-prison party in March last year and has recently been taking belly-dancing lessons.

Before going to prison she wrote a post that read: "Thanks to everyone for your friendship and support this past couple of years. I will never be able to express how much it means to me to know so many wonderful people."

Ms Vosper is a member of various groups relating to animal rights on Facebook, such as the Petition to Ban Battery Hens and Animal Rights Day.

She names her favourite quote as the following by Aga Khan: "The philosophy behind vivisection, the sacrifice of creatures we regard as 'inferior' beings, differs little from that behind the concentration camp or the slave trader."