Animal rights "terrorist" in court

An animal rights activist was behind the 'terrorist campaign' that destroyed two Oxford University buildings with home made pipe bombs to stop the building of research facilities, a court has heard.

Mel Broughton, 48, is accused of planning and carrying out two arson attacks in November 2006 causing £14,000 worth of damage.

Self-proclaimed activist and leading figure of animal rights group SPEAK, planned a campaign in protest of plans to build new research laboratories at Oxford University. Broughton denies charges including alternative possession of materials to destroy property, conspiracy to arson and ownership of explosive articles with intent.

Prosecutor John Price told the court Broughton had collaborated with at least one other person to carry out the attacks, which consisted of fuel and an improvised fuse made from sparklers.

He said: “The principle target of these devices was the institution of the university itself. They were part of a wider terrorist campaign intended to bring to an end, if it could, the construction of the laboratory in Oxford.”

Broughton was arrested at his home in Northampton in December last year where police found a battery connector and 14 packets of sparklers in a disused water tank in his bathroom.

They also found a university security pass and a notebook containing possible locations for "direct action" underneath his carpet.

The jury heard he had been previously convicted in 1998 when police found a bomb in the boot of the car they had stopped him in.

Two similar bombs were found underneath a portakabin at Templeton College in February last year after they had failed to detonate. The jury heard that DNA linked Broughton to a sample used as part of the fuse.

Campaign group SPEAK pride themselves on being "pro-active" to stop animal testing, using an "ends justifies the means" philosophy of action.

Their website states; "we are often referred to as 'terrorists' because we have been forced to choose unorthodox methods to draw attention to an issue where other means have failed; pro-active action has often ensured that animal rights has put issues requiring attention firmly on the map."

Described as an animal rights "fanatic", the prosecutor said that Broughton had not aimed to harm anybody in his attacks on empty buildings at night but that the attacks were serious criminal offences.

He said: "Acts of intimidation and violence were directed towards persons and institutions such as companies perceived as being in any way connected to the project."

The trial continues.