Employees of a logistics company have told a jury about the “hard hitting” treatment they received from an animal rights activist group.

Wesley Ewan and Vincent Howard were both accused of being paedophiles in letters sent to their neighbours by supporters of the Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (SHAC) organisation, Winchester Crown Court heard.

The court was told that both men work for Biocair and were targeted by the animal rights group because their firm supplied the animal testing laboratory Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS).

Mr Ewan and Mr Howard appeared at the trial of five alleged SHAC activists charged with conspiracy to blackmail.

Heather Nicholson, of Pond Croft in Yateley, Gerrah Selby, formerly of Aldershot Road, Church Crookham, Daniel Wadham, formerly of Pond Croft, Yateley, Gavin Medd-Hall, from Croydon, and Trevor Holmes, from Crawley, West Sussex, deny conspiring between November 15, 2001 and May 2, 2007, to blackmail those companies they believed to be associates of HLS.

The prosecution told the court that SHAC’s sole aim is to shut down HLS.

The court heard that SHAC, under the badge Animal Liberation Front (ALF) or the Animal Rights Militia, would blackmail the companies and its employees it believed to be associated with HLS.

'Threats'

Those companies would then be subject to “direct action” which could include protests, threatening emails and criminal damage, until they released a “capitulation statement” saying they would stop working with HLS, the prosecution said.

Mr Howard, operations director for Biocair told the jury that, in March 2005, between 25 and 30 letters were sent to people in the village where he lived claiming he was a paedophile.

The father-of-three said it had a great impact on him and his family and made him question his role as the coach of a local boys football club.

Mr Howard told the court he moved the furniture in his children’s bedroom in order to protect them should an object be thrown through the window in retaliation to the accusation.

“That was a low point for me,” he told the jury. “You sit there in a small village moving furniture so you are protected. I thought it was mad to do that.

“I did question my career. People’s priorities are with their families and I am the same. I want to make sure everything was fine with them.”

Hoax bomb

Mr Howard’s partner Sandra Martin received a hoax bomb at their home on April 3 2006, which resulted in a bomb disposal squad being called out, the court heard.

Mrs Martin described the incident as “worrying” because any of her young children could have picked it up.

“It made us very aware of security and the fact that we were living with this all the time,” she said in the dock.

On two occasions SHAC supporters allegedly targeted the family’s two cars.

They were covered in paint stripper and the tyres were slashed, Mr Howard claimed.

The abuse forced Mr Howard to set up CCTV cameras around his house and he admitted he now sleeps with the doors and windows locked, the jury was told.

Mr Ewan received similar treatment, the court heard.

The trial continues.

For more on the court case see our previous articles - and a gallery of letters and photos shown to the court - by clicking on the 'related articles' on the right of this page.

Watch the video shown to the court as part of the prosecution's allegations activists harrassed companies.