Police bill for Camp Beagle tops £200,000 – and two arrests in one day

The cost of policing Camp Beagle topped £200,000 by the first week of September – and that’s excluding massive police presence in the past month.

The costs were revealed in a Freedom of Information request submitted by a Camp Beagle supporter.

The revelation comes in the week that John Curtin, one of the mainstays of the camp outside MBR Acres at Wyton was arrested for the second time.

This time he has been bailed away from the area, thus ending his 90 days and 90 nights protest.

He will appear in court in January and explained in a video message to supporters he hopes to return.

His arrest came on Wednesday as four van loads of beagle puppies were ferried out of MBR Acres.

Police again responded in force to give them ready access.

A spokesperson for Cambridgeshire Police said: “A 55-year-old woman from the Huntingdon area and a 58-year-old man from Coventry were arrested on suspicion of common assault.

“We continue to provide an impartial and proportionate response to the protests, balancing the right to protest with the right of staff at the site to go about their lawful work.

“We are ensuring a safe environment for protestors to express their views peacefully and staff at the site to do their work, which is protected under the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005.”

Protestors had earlier been told of the success of their defence of a High Court action to have them removed.

The court ruled that the protest can continue but insisted that protestors must stay outside of the site and at least 10 metres from the gates.

MBR Acres is part of US multinational Marshall BioResources (MBR) and breeds up to 2,000 beagles each year to sell when they are four months old.

The company says it fully respects that protesters have a right to peacefully protest provided that it is conducted lawfully.

“Our staff, who are fully trained animal-care professionals whose sole task is to raise healthy and content animals, are unfortunately receiving abuse from certain protesters as they come into and leave work to care for our dogs,” said the company.

They operate in “full compliance with Home Office regulations”.