British animal rights activist Robert Moaby, 33, was sentenced this week to four and a half years in jail for e-mailing death threats to executives at companies that did business with Huntingdon Life Sciences. Moaby also received almost 3 years for possessing child pornography which was discovered on a computer seized from his home.
In May 2001, Moaby sent an e-mail to a vice-president of the Bank of New York that said, “We are going to kill you.” In June 2001, Moaby sent another threatening e-mail to the CEO of AIM Fund Management. In both e-mails, Moaby cited the businesses links to Huntingdon Life Sciences.
At the sentencing hearing, Judge Peter Fingret told Moaby,
These were not idle threats. They must be seen in the context of a violent campaign against Huntingdon Life Sciences and its associated companies. You must have known they would instill fear to the people they were addressed and their families. Justifiably, they were taken so seriously by your victims that they had security arranged for them.
British newspapers The Daily Telegraph (London) and This is London both identified Moaby as a member of Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty. SHAC spokesman Greg Avery told This is London, however, that Moaby was not known to SHAC and they did not endorse his actions.
Which is a bit odd, considering that Moaby’s actions were completely consistent with both SHAC’s rhetoric and the actions of its leaders such as Avery. Avery himself plead guilty to waging a campaign of harassment against investors in Huntingdon Life Sciences, including distributing newsletters containing the addresses of those affiliated with HLS telling readers, “Lets smash them.”
Sources:
Animal activist jailed over death threats. The Daily Telegraph (London), August 20, 2002.
Animal rights man jailed over email. Patrick McGowan, ThisIsLondon.Com, August 20, 2002.
OMG! four and a half years in jail . thats too much i think