Twelve people charged after five dogs taken from Huntingdon research facility MBR Acres

Twelve people have been charged with burglary after five dogs were taken from an animal research facility.

The dogs were stolen during a break-in at the MBR Acres site in Wyton, Cambridgeshire, at around 3am on Monday morning.

It followed another break-in at the facility at 5am on Sunday.

Cambridgeshire Police said 12 people, aged between 20 and 52, and from across the country, including Glasgow, York and London, had been charged in connection with Monday's break-in and were due to appear at Cambridge Magistrates' Court on Tuesday.

The force added that the the dogs taken from the facility, which breeds animals for research, had yet to be recovered.

A barrister representing MBR Acres gave details of the alleged incident during a hearing in relation to a separate matter at the High Court on Monday.

Caroline Bolton said that five dogs had been stolen after a number of anti-vivisection protesters broke into a site.

MBR Acres has taken High Court action in the wake of anti-vivisection protests at the Wyton site, and a judge has made an injunction preventing protesters entering an exclusion zone.

Protests at the site hit the headlines in November after singer Will Young was involved in a demonstration.

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