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LONDON
(Reuters) - Police searching for the body of a dead woman dug up by
animal rights activists said on Wednesday they had found what they
believed were human remains. The grave of Gladys Hammond, related
to the owners of a guinea pig farm in Newchurch, Staffordshire, was
desecrated in October 2004 in a long-running campaign of intimidation. Four
animal rights protesters have admitted plotting to blackmail the owners
of the farm that bred the animals for medical research and will be
sentenced later this month. Police said the remains were found on
Tuesday afternoon on land near a German War cemetery at Broadhurst
Green, near Hednesford in Staffordshire. The remains will be
removed later on Wednesday and taken to Staffordshire mortuary for
tests to determine their identity, a process that could take several
days. The desecration of the grave in a churchyard in Yoxall,
Staffordshire, was the worst incident in a six-year campaign against
David Hall and Partners who ran their family business at Darley Oaks
Farm. The family endured abuse, death threats and firebomb
attacks during one of Britain's most sustained harassment campaigns by
animal rights groups. The campaign led the family to announce
last year they would give up breeding guinea pigs and would return to
traditional farming. Prosecutors last month said Jon Ablewhite,
36, Kerry Whitburn, 36, John Smith, 39, and Josephine Mayo, 38, had
admitted conspiracy charges at hearings at Nottingham Crown Court. In
a statement following the hearings, Harry Ireland, the Chief Crown
Prosecutor of Staffordshire, said the four had admitted using the theft
of the body of Hammond, who died in 1997 aged 82, as part of their
campaign. But he said the prosecution had not been able to prove that they had actually stolen the body.
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