Animal Rising protestors sentenced following blockade at Müller site
23rd July 2025
Six animal rights activists were sentenced for aggravated trespass after bringing milk supplies to a halt at a dairy site back in 2022.
The Animal Rising’s ‘Stop the Supply’ campaign in September 2022 saw the Müller’s Bridgwater site being blockaded by protestors, leading to temporary milk shortages in some retailers across the UK.
Each of the activists was handed a £666 compensation order, payable to Müller, a £114 victim surcharge, and 60 hours of unpaid community work, Countryside Alliance reported.
Though they were originally acquitted in January last year due to insufficient evidence, the six protesters were subsequently found guilty after the Crown Prosecution Service successfully appealed the decision this year.
Daniel Juniper, 30, a former nursery practitioner from Bristol and one of those convicted, claimed: “The climate emergency negatively impacts on our food system in the form of flooding, droughts and yield losses. It is vitally important that the industry recognises that it’s in their interest to move to sustainable alternatives.”
Animal Rising describes itself as a ‘social movement’ that calls for the transition to a plant-based food system and a ‘mass rewilding programme’.
‘Dairy is enjoyed by vast bulk of public’
Commenting on the sentencing, Mo Metcalf-Fisher, director of external affairs at the Countryside Alliance, said: “It is right that the offenders have been brought to justice. The public are fed up of being impacted by a handful of obsessive and warped activists.
“Dairy is enjoyed by the vast bulk of the public, and any attempt to disrupt the supply chain must be met with the full force of the law.”
The protesters targeted several dairy processors in 2022.
At Arla Foods’ Hatfield site, activists broke into the dairy distribution centre and caused £100,000 worth of damage, CA confirmed.
A Hertfordshire court then fined 13 of the activists a total of £56,785 for conspiracy to cause damage.
The Countryside Alliance said it will continue to call for robust enforcement of the law to clamp down on harmful and disruptive animal rights activism.
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