By Dominic Ponsford
An animal
rights group is holding Sun columnist Jeremy Clarkson responsible after
it was sent more than 20 sacks of excrement, rubble and old copies of
Horse and Hound.
The League Against Cruel Sports told Press Gazette it is considering
legal action and a PCC complaint against The Sun and the Evening
Standard after they published stories encouraging readers to misuse an
appeal launched by the charity.
The group has urged supporters to
use a freepost address to send in equipment such as old camcorders,
which could be useful in its monitoring of fox hunts.
Clarkson
used his Sun column to publish the full freepost address and said: “If
you were to send them say, an empty envelope, they would have to pay
the postage. Which means they’ve less to spend on their gear. Just a
thought. I’m going to send a paving stone. Or a horse.”
The
address was also published in the Evening Standard’s Londoner’s Diary
and is believed to have been circulated via email among Countryside
Alliance supporters.
League spokeswoman Wanda Wyporska said:
“We’ve received old copies of Horse and Hound, bricks, excrement and
scrap metal. We’ve been absolutely inundated, it could cost us more
than £10,000.”
She said that 15 to 20 sackloads had gone to the
charity’s offices and an unknown further amount was being held by the
Royal Mail.
According to Wyporska, police are investigating
possible criminal charges stemming from “abuse of the postal system and
malicious communications”.
A letter has been sent by the LACS’s
lawyers to the Evening Standard and The Sun saying: “The publication of
the article was designed to harass and intimidate the League from
pursuing its lawful objectives. This is in breach of the PCC code of
practice.”
The two papers have yet to respond.
Clarkson was unavailable for comment.
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