Taxi Driver Online

The Daily Telegraph (London)

January 24, 2009 Saturday

110 pounds taxi bill for animal rights thug's visit to wife in prison

THE jailed ringleader of an animal rights gang that terrorised an animal testing laboratory took a pounds 110 taxi ride with guards to visit his imprisoned wife at taxpayers' expense.

Gregg Avery and his wife Natasha boasted of the visit in a newsletter to supporters in which he describes life in prison as "a laugh''.

Both Avery, 41, and Natasha, 39, pleaded guilty last year to conspiracy to blackmail. The pair were sentenced to nine years in jail earlier this week.

The Averys were members of the Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (SHAC) gang that targeted scores of victims during a six-year campaign to force the closure of Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS) in Cambridgeshire.

As part of their "military precision'' campaign they branded directors of firms that dealt with HLS "paedophiles'' and attacked their families. As a result, more than 270 businesses dropped any links with HLS.

In the newsletter, published late last year, Avery, who is in Winchester prison, told how he made an "inter-prison visit to my beautiful wife Natasha'' in HMP Bronzefield in Middlesex while they were both on remand. He wrote that during the journey he "would have given a royal wave out of the window, but this was somewhat hampered by the fact that I was handcuffed to an officer''.

He wrote: "When we got to Bronzefield and the meter was on pounds 110 I explained I'd left my wallet in my other jacket.''

He described the visit as "two hours of heaven'' and wrote: "Only Natasha could make a day inside into one of the best days of my life.''

He continued: "I floated back to Winchester and the bubble was only briefly burst by one of the screws falling asleep on my shoulder.''

He wrote that he now works in the prison library where he can "have a laugh'' with SHAC member Daniel Amos, who pleaded guilty on conspiracy to blackmail charges at the same time as Avery.

In the same newsletter, Natasha wrote that the visit was the highlight of the past few months "by a million miles''.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Justice said governors were "encouraged to make reasonable efforts to allow a request for an inter-prison visit'' between close relatives.

In this case, he said the Averys were allowed to meet because they were "unconvicted prisoners'' and were being held for more than a month.

He said "vetted'' taxi firms were sometimes the most cost effective transport option.

The sentencing judge described the Averys as "veteran, fanatical animal rights activists'' who were likely to return to extremism on release. Amos received a four-year term.
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I just cant get my head around this.

Prisoners visiting other prisoners!!!

What a f##king joke.

They were not convicted at the time. Innocent until...................


About 5 years ago we used to get a regular run from Stocken prison to the Earlesfield Estate in Grantham in the limo. When prisoners were released they would get their transport home paid by the prison service. This used to be in the daytime so my wife would drive the car. I would give her the instruction of go straight to the home address, do not stop at any bank or post office on the way and most importantly, make sure they left the prison by the front gate.

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Grandad,