Alex@rtnVFRmedia Suffolk UKMar 27

A #beagle pup is worth about a grand, I think the lads came out on top even after the penalties - although not suggesting they nicked them to sell (or even did so) as they genuinely wanted a better life for the doggos and saved them from unpleasant experiments.

Its curious though and one of the anomalies of #jury #trials that these lads were found guilty whereas similar activists targeting the same place get acquitted, probably genuine luck of the draw with what jurors they get.

I don't think the prosecutions argument they were *dishonest* holds water, they were perfectly upfront about *why* they took the actions they did.

I hope the (minor) criminal records don't hold them back too much in life..

#CrownCourt #AnimalRights #Cambridgeshire

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5yv7rxer0ro

Trio found guilty of stealing puppies bred for research in Wyton

Daniel Kidby, Ben Newman and Beau Sebastien broke into the animal facility in Wyton in 2022.

BBC News
Show threadvarx/techMar 28
@vfrmedia Weird comments from the judge, blaming them for the understaffed justice system.
Show threadChristopher M0YNGMar 28
@varx @vfrmedia I'm not sure where burglary sits on the scale BUT given the comments from the judge it's possible that it's something that can be tried by a magistrate OR the defendant can choose to have a crown court trial by jury.
It's possible the comment refers to the defendants choosing the crown jury trial - knowing they would lose anyway - for publicity reasons. Which does out extra pressure on the system.
Show threadvarx/techMar 28

@M0YNG @vfrmedia That might make a bit more sense, yeah.

Although I feel like the occasional legal stunt can't be *that* much pressure on the system, proportionally.

Show threadAlex@rtnVFRmedia Suffolk UK

@varx @M0YNG

burglary *is* an either-or offence so defendants at present have an option to elect for a jury trial in Crown Court, I can fully understand why they did as there were other similar cases from same incident where the defendants got acquitted by the jury!

The criminal justice system struggles with cases like this, its geared towards punishing burglaries committed out of greed, hatred, or to feed addictions rather than one carried out as part of activism.

Given that the defendants were not sent to jail and given a relatively light penalty, I do wonder the judge put on a bit of bluster just to show he was still enforcing the law, whilst deep down not being completely unsympathetic to *why* they committed the offence..

Mar 29 at 10:08amWeb
Show threadAlex@rtnVFRmedia Suffolk UKMar 29

@varx @M0YNG maybe he was even dropping hints that this case could have been heard at the megistrates and they would likely have got the same (or even less) penalties..

However I was called up for jury service myself in 2023, and my experience (in a region not too far away from where this all happened) is folk end up before Crown Court because they have committed genuinely unpleasant violent crimes including murder and sexual assaults, and moaning about a few hippies releasing dogs from a research centre isn't going to make a great difference to overall crime figures..