A MAN who sent threatening letters to a Staffordshire farm during a six-year campaign by animal rights extremists has been jailed for 12 months.
Wayne Bunch, of Bloys Mews in Colchester, Essex, pleaded guilty to two counts of blackmail at Stafford Crown Court.
The 27-year-old admitted sending two abusive and threatening letters to two employees of Darley Oaks Farm, Newchurch, in 2003.
The farm was the target of a long-running campaign by animal rights extremists because it bred guinea pigs for scientific research.
The campaign against the farm and its employees came to a head in 2004 when extremists dug up the body of Gladys Hammond, the dead mother-in-law of one of the farm's owners.
Passing sentence, Judge Simon Tonking said there was no suggestion Bunch was significantly involved in the campaign, nor that he had anything to do with the plot to desecrate Mrs Hammond's grave.
But, he said, Bunch's actions had contributed to the "sustained atmosphere of pressure and fear" in which the farm's employees lived at the time.
In July 2003, Bunch sent two letters to the homes of Darley Oaks employees. One, addressed to labourer Simon Turner, read: "Hallo Simon, how's the wife?
"Given up the day job yet or are you still an evil sadistic ****? Are you enjoying life? Hope you both burn in hell or at home."
The second also contained a threatening reference to a farm employee burning to death in his home.
