Pizzas galore!

Asked for his views about the campaign of intimidation, he said: "We do not need to glamorise this sort of activity but Animal Liberation Front activists are intelligent human beings who have a particular mind set. They consider the horrors of vivisection, killing umpteen animals, as being a justification for what essentially is low level criminal damage.

"There hasn’t been any violence whatsoever at the farm. There hasn’t been a single person been hurt by any protester. In fact, it’s protesters who have been hospitalised by security guards from the farm."

Today a close relative of Mrs Hammond said in a statement issued through police: "The removal of Gladys Hammond from her coffin in Yoxall churchyard was a terrible act which has caused immense suffering to myself and others who loved her dearly.

"Gladys was a relative of the Halls by marriage only and had no involvement in guinea pig breeding. She was a kind, gentle country lady who loved animals. She was also friendly, generous and loving and always put her family first.

"David Hall and Partners will now close. The reason Gladys was taken from her family no longer exists. There is no reason why her body cannot be returned to those of us who loved her."

The relative, who police said is not directly related to the Hall family and has no involvement with the business, added: "Speaking as someone who loved Gladys, please will anyone who knows the whereabouts of her body contact Staffordshire Police so this painful episode can be brought to a conclusion and her body returned to its rightful place in St Peter’s churchyard."

Inspector David Bird, of Staffordshire Police’s Environmental Protest Unit, said that officers had policed hundreds of protests at Darley Oaks Farm since 1999.

"It has been our policy since 1999 to support the Hall family’s right to continue their lawful and legitimate business while upholding the rights of others to demonstrate within the law and taking action against unlawful protest," he said.

"We respect the Halls’ decision, made entirely by themselves, to close Darley Oaks Farm."

Mr Bird stressed that the decision to cease breeding guinea pigs would have no effect on the investigation into the theft of Mrs Hammond’s body.

The Darley Oaks Farm is not the first British company to suffer sustained harassment by animal rights activists. Staff at Huntingdon Life Sciences have also been attacked and threatened.

Extremist violence has become a problem for drug companies, some of whom have threatened to withdraw investment from Britain if the attacks did not stop.

The Government has responded by giving police new powers under the Serious Organised Crime and Disorder Act, which came into effect in July, making it easier for courts to jail activists who have targeted companies involved in testing products on animals and their suppliers.

Michael Fabricant, the Conservative MP for Lichfield which includes Darley Oaks, said: "I am disappointed that animal rights extremists will believe that their reign of bullying, intimidation, and terror was justified following the announcement of the closure of Darley Oaks Farm.

"It is an irony that the guinea pigs used for medical research will now have to be imported from France and Spain where, unlike in Britain, the animals are bred in overcrowded conditions and not subject to regular inspection. Far from improving the conditions of these animals, these narrow-minded extremists have worsened them."

The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry thanked the Hall family for their contribution towards developing new medicines, but said that the Government needed to do more to protect such companies.

"Guinea pigs have provided essential information to support research into respiratory disease resulting in real breakthroughs in the development of new medicines," said Philip Wright, the ABPI’s Director of Science and Technology. "The activities of a few animal rights extremists have placed impossible pressure on those going about their legitimate business."

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