AN ANIMAL rights activist has been fined for refusing to pay her TV licence after claiming a BBC documentary wrongly implicated her and fellow campaigners in a grave robbery.
Janet Tomlinson, 68, earned notoriety when she organised a series of protests against a controversial guinea pig breeding operation at Darley Oaks Farm, in Newchurch.
The protests shot to national prominence when the body of Gladys Hammond, the mother-in-law of one of the farm’s owners, was dug up and stolen from its grave at St Peter’s Church, in Yoxall.
Tomlinson, of Shobnall Close, Burton, was questioned by police about the grave robbery but was released without charge.
In August 2006, the BBC broadcast Crimewatch Solved, a programme which followed the conviction and jailing of several leading campaigners — and their subsequent decision to pass information revealing the whereabouts of the stolen remains.
However, Tomlinson claims the programme contained seven “factual inaccuracies” about the protesters and has since refused to pay her TV licence until the BBC apologised for the programme.
Burton Magistrates’ Court heard Tomlinson, who represented herself, was caught without a licence in May 2010. She told the court: “I returned my licence
fee in protest at the blatant lies told in the Crimewatch programme.
“I don’t think I should have to pay to finance the BBC making programmes that deceive the public.”
She continued: “The BBC told terrible lies about people and that’s against the law. Why should they get away with it?”
She added: “The BBC have given the public the impression we robbed someone’s grave, which is not true.”
However, presiding magistrate Chris Buntain retorted: “You need a licence to watch TV. This court is not the forum to discuss the rights and wrongs of the BBC.”
Tomlinson, who still has no TV licence, was fined £50 and ordered to pay £150 court costs and a £15 victim surcharge.
Outside court Tomlinson told the Mail she would re-consider her stance on paying the licence fee.
After the BBC documentary was aired, Tomlinson complained to media regulator Ofcom. She said she and other protestors had been unfairly linked to criminality and the exhumation.
An Ofcom investigation found the BBC had not been unfair to Tomlinson.
The protestors claimed victory in September 2005, when the farm owners, John and Christopher Hall, announced the guinea pig breeding business would close.
However, four activists, Jon Ablewhite, John Smith, Kerry Whitburn and Jospehine Mayo, were jailed the following year for their “campaign of terror” against the Hall family.
It was subsequently revealed in court that Smith had finally told police the location of Mrs Hammond’s remains — a German War Graves cemetery at Cannock Chase.
