EVIDENCE of the shock tactics being used by hardline anti-abortionists has emerged after the conviction of two campaigners for circulating graphic pictures of terminated foetuses.

The two, a 74-year-old man and a grandmother, are activists with the UK Life League, which said this weekend that it planned to “bombard the Establishment” with the images.

Edward Atkinson, 74, was sentenced to four weeks in prison last Friday for posting “very upsetting” images to Ruth May, chief executive of the Queen Elizabeth hospital in King’s Lynn, Norfolk.

He was given a further two weeks in jail for failing to pay a £650 fine imposed in 2002 for a similar offence and an anti-social behaviour order.

When told that if he breaches the Asbo he faces up to five years in jail, Atkinson said: “Then you may as well lock me up and throw away the key.”

May, in tears, told the court that she had received an envelope containing “very upsetting and offensive literature” from Atkinson.

He said the purpose of sending the images had been “to educate”.

Atkinson, who was convicted on three charges of sending malicious communications, was also ordered to pay £500 towards court costs.

In a separate court case the same day Veronica Connolly, 50, a wheelchair user, was also convicted of sending pictures of aborted foetuses to pharmacies to protest at the use of the morning-after pill.

A spokesman for UK Life League confirmed that Atkinson and Connolly were activists with the group. “We are campaigning to get Ted out and also encouraging 10,000 of our more militant people to bombard the Establishment with these images,” he said.

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