Four legs good, two legs bad

AROUND 30 years ago, the Hall family diversified from dairy and sheep farming into breeding guinea pigs for use in research laboratories. Six years ago, they became the target of animal rights activists. They have been abandoned by frightened suppliers and employees and lost their entire dairy herd, which was slaughtered when their tormentors made it impossible for the milk to be collected. The nadir came last year, when activists stole the body of Gladys Hammond, mother-in-law of one of the Hall brothers, from its grave in the churchyard at Yoxall in Staffordshire.