Ben Newman, from Hackney, and Nathan McGovern, from Lewisham, believed the puppies were being bled to death so their blood could be sold by a facility that breeds dogs for animal testing
London activists who “rescued” Beagles believed some puppies had “every last drop” of blood drained and sold by the facility that breeds them for animal testing, a court heard.
Ben Newman, 35, from Hackney, and Nathan McGovern, 26, from Lewisham, are among 18 activists from Animal Rising who face charges of burglary and handling stolen goods after 20 dogs were taken from MBR Acres in Cambridgeshire in December 2022.
Though it is accepted the activists’ beliefs about animal testing were honestly held, the prosecution say the defendants were not acting honestly or reasonably in the eyes of a normal person – a legal test for dishonesty when it comes to theft.
MBR Acres is licensed by the Home Office and has not been found in breach of its license, jurors were told. Prosecutor Mitchell Cohen has said it was an “organised, planned” burglary, and suggested activists wanted to use a jury trial as a “political platform” for their views.
On Tuesday (December 9), Newman, who is self-represented, took the stand and confirmed to jurors what he told police after his arrest, that: “My actions, saving innocent dogs from suffering and death, were justified and lawful and any ordinary person would agree.”
In a statement previously given to police, Newman wrote that MBR Acres breeds 2,000 dogs a year until they are 16 weeks old and transported to labs for testing – some for medical tests and others for household products by “feeding the animal a chemical and letting them die”.
Newman also said: “[MBR Acres] have a bleeding license which means they can bleed healthy dogs on site. When it is not economical they can bleed the dogs and sell the blood… It’s a largely self-perpetuating industry.”
Recalling his statement, Newman also went into detail about alternatives to animal testing, including ‘organ-on-a-chip’ and digital methods.
Turning to jurors, Newman said: “This was now three years ago. In that time I have spoken to hundreds of people about it. I’m not kidding you, not a single person I have spoken to has not been broadly supportive.”
Asked if the dogs belonged to MBR Acres, Newman suggested “laws change when they are out of sync with what people think”, then referred to plans by the Labour government to phase out animal testing.
Newman also claimed there had not been a trial of “this type” in the UK, with animal rights activists accused of burglary using the defence of honesty, later adding he did not believe a Beagle ‘rescue’ had been done since the 1990s.
Under questioning from prosecutor Mr Cohen, Newman conceded that using a trial as a public forum to express views on animal testing was “part of the intention”, but added “saving the animal’s life, most people would agree that is a good thing to do”.
Asked if he thought he had “a right to break the law”, Newman said “in most cases the law should be followed” and “the British justice system is pretty good”, but added he also believed in “pushing the envelope”.
‘What I saw horrified me’
Footage from ‘burglary’ on Beagle breeding facility
McGovern, also representing himself, told jurors he was a “cat person rather than a dog person”, having taken in a cat called Racoon, named after her “enormous bushy tail” that came off after an accident with a car.
After entering university as an “insufferable atheist” who attempted to convince everyone God did not exist, McGovern told the court he learned to argue with people and “changed [his] mind”, swearing on a Bible before giving his evidence.
After participating in “various social causes, environmental and animal”, McGovern said the issue of animal testing was put in the front of his mind after reading an article in the Daily Mirror. “What I saw horrified me… viscerally disturbed me,” he said.
McGovern said he previously understood by most people to believe animal testing is “horrible but a necessary evil – the good outweighs the harms”, but had come to believe “it does not have a leg to stand on”.
After reading widely in the British Medical Journal, Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics, Royal Society of Medicine, and House of Commons Library, McGovern said he learned some papers have concluded animal testing is, in his words, “a sham”.
McGovern also told the jury he broadened his perspective by reading newspaper opinion pieces and articles from Understanding Animal Research (UAR), but then came to believe UAR is “directly funded” by MBR Acres and had been “partially founded” by MBR Acres, “such is the depth of conflict of interest these groups have”.
After signing petitions and donating directly to groups that oppose animal testing, McGovern saw undercover footage that “appalled” him and motivated him to take direct action.
Like Newman, he also learned about the “blood license”, which allows MBR Acres to “harvest bioproducts”, including stem cells and organs from live dogs and dogs that have been humanely killed. Describing the process of taking blood, McGovern said: “[This means] hooking an IV line from the dog and draining every last drop from the animal.”
McGovern insisted the action he took had the “fundamental goal” of saving the lives of the dogs. In her own evidence, Hannah Hunt, 26, from Brighton, said the direct action “told two stories: the ones we carried to safety and the ones we left behind”.
Hunt said the alleged burglary only happened at around 5am because one of the activists had slept in and missed their alarm. The tools they used were painted pink “to reflect non-violence”, she added. Hunt took the direct action because “because someone else has been calling the fire brigade for decades”, she told the court.
“I honestly believed we were doing the right thing,” she said, “In the last three years I do not think there has been a day I have not thought about the puppies I rescued, and there’s not a day I do not think about the puppies we left behind.”
The trial under Judge Philip Grey continues.
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