Former soldier is jailed over animal rights ‘reign of terror’
A FORMER British soldier described as the ‘face’ of a Europe-wide animal rights terror campaign was jailed for six years yesterday.
Debbie Vincent, 52, was told she hadn’t a ‘shred of remorse’ for the victims of a sinister blackmail plot who were left living in terror.
She was a leading figure among shadowy extremists who targeted animal testing company Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS) for more than a decade.
Creating a ‘climate of fear’, they firebombed buildings, orchestrated false ‘paedophile’ smear campaigns and even sent their victims bloodsoaked sanitary products, supposedly infected with HIV.
Vincent, who served in the Army and fathered a son before undergoing a sex change, rose through the ranks of extremists as others were jailed.
She was finally brought to justice after being recorded by an undercover police officer as she tried to broker a deal in which one company agreed to stop dealing with HLS.
Sentencing her at Winchester Crown Court, Judge Keith Cutler said Vincent ‘could not have cared less for the terror, pain and distress’ caused by the conspiracy despite watching her accomplices go to prison.
‘It is difficult for a judge to calculate the repugnance felt by society to such appalling acts’ he added. ‘Nothing at all could justify such attacks. You express no shred of remorse or
‘Couldn’t have
cared less’
condemnation for the incidents of extreme terror and desecration which took place.
‘There is not an inkling of understanding the distress those actions must have caused.’
Vincent joined the Army as a teenager before working as an electrician, marrying and starting a family.
But she left her wife and son behind after a sex change to start a life as an itinerant animal rights activist, campaigning against fox hunting, badger culls and animal testing.
In around 2005 she joined members of Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (Shac), who were responsible for a plot to blackmail HLS suppliers into signing so - called ‘ capitulation statements’.
The names and addresses of those that refused were posted on a website called ‘Bite Back’.
Dr Daniel Vasella, former chairman of healthcare giant Novartis, was singled out by the group.
His home in Switzerland was burned down and his church daubed with graffiti branding him a ‘murderer’, adding: ‘Vasella, you can hide you can pray but we will not go away.’
In July 2009, his family grave plot was attacked and an urn containing the ashes of his mother was stolen. It has never been f ound. Wooden crosses were placed in the ground, one with his name and the second with that of his wife, both with birth and ‘death’ dates scrawled on them in red paint.
Shortly afterwards a message was posted online reading: ‘It hasn’t been your week has it Dr Vasella? Understand this, this will continue until you severe all links with HLS.’
Vincent first began helping out as a secretary and odd-job man at Shac’s offices in Little Moorcote, near Hook, Hampshire. But she became a figurehead and public spokesman as its founding members were jailed for up to nine years.
Just months before the attacks on Dr Vasella, she was interviewed twice by the BBC and said the group would ‘up the ante’ if it did not achieve its aims lawfully.
The cost to companies targeted by Shac was more than £1.1million in repairing damage and hiring extra security for buildings and staff.
There is no evidence Vincent was personally involved in the attacks, but she did nothing to stop or condemn them, said the judge.
He added: ‘These measures were used with the fear and terror they caused, indeed some aspects of the case indicate the activists enjoyed causing such terror.’
Vincent, who was convicted of conspiracy to blackmail last month and arrived for her sentencing with her belongings in a large camping rucksack, was supported by more than 30 fellow activists who demonstrated outside court.
Her barrister, James Wood QC, said she is in poor health and would endure ‘harshness and bullying’ in jail because of her personal background. Vincent will also be subjected to a five-year Asbo on her release, banning her from many animal rights activities.
Swiss-born Sven van Hasselt and Briton Natasha Simpkins, who were arrested with Vincent in 2012, are due to be extradited to the UK to face trial. Scotland Yard Commander Duncan Ball said the tactics used by the group went ‘far beyond lawful campaigning’.