£10m 'bounty' for animal rights protesters

They look like any other residents of a quiet suburban street. The two women and a man share a £500,000 19th century house in Surrey's stockbroker belt, where they fit in easily among their affluent neighbours.

But neighbours are unaware that these are among the country's most feared animal rights activists.

Backed by millionaire benefactors - one of whom donated the cottage - Greg Avery, his wife Natasha and ex-wife Heather James have turned their group, Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (Shac), into a powerful organisation with thousands of members across the world. Their campaigns have forced high-profile City institutions to terminate profitable contracts with medical research firm Huntingdon Life Sciences, notably the resignation of its auditors Deloitte & Touche, its broker HSBC and its banks.

Now the City is striking back by offering rewards of up to £10 million for the prosecution of activists who campaign against companies such as HLS.

The National Association of Pension Funds is also considering offering rewards to people who inform on groups such as Shac, which has targeted Huntingdon for four years.

The group lists its target companies, with contact details, on its website - encouraging supporters to demonstrate, send letters and emails and make phone calls protesting about links with HLS.

Shac supporters trace company directors and their families and intimidate them into relinquishing their links to Huntingdon.

The group is led by 38-year-old Avery - also known as Greg Harrison and Greg Jennings. He joined the animal rights movement at 15 and became a vegan. Although he trained as a tailor, animal rights soon became a fulltime job with stints as a hunt saboteur and anti- vivisection fundraiser.

He lives with his wife and exwifein what many would consider a bizarre arrangement. He said: "Heather and I have been divorced for a number of years but remain on friendly terms.

"It's nonsense to make out I'm having any kind of relationship with anybody other than my wife. It is a bare-faced lie to suggest I have a harem, as some of the speculation has."

Avery met co-leader Heather James, 37, in 1994 at a Coventry protest against the export of live animals for slaughter, and they moved into a house in the West Midlands. The couple led demonstrations against Consort Beagles in Herefordshire, which closed 10 months later.

They then focused on Hill Grove Farm, near Witney in Oxfordshire, which bred kittens for laboratory testing. The campaign cost taxpayers £3 million in policing and the cattery closed in 1999.

James likes to boast: "We have a 100 per cent success rate. Whoever we choose to target is finished."

In 1999, the couple formed Shac, targeting Huntingdon Life Sciences' financial backers and small clients. They put the names and addresses of shareholders on their website and sent pickets to their homes. Workers' neighbours received leaflets saying they were living near a "murderer".

In November 2001, Avery and James - plus a third activist Natasha Dallemagne, 36, whom he has now married - were accused of conspiracy to incite a public nuisance. All three were sentenced to 12 months in prison, six suspended.

While Avery was on prison ship Weare, he researched Huntingdon's links - especially those with Japanese firms. Avery and James have found that targeting Huntingdon's City investors is far more effective than outright intimidation - although this is a tactic their supporters have not entirely disavowed.

Avery moves home every six months and has five large dogs to protect him. In 1998, Avery was sentenced to six months for affray, and later that year served 14 days in prison for offences against the Public Order Act. Two years later he served four months for conspiracy to cause a public nuisance.

He claims he has "learned his lesson" from his brushes with the law.

"The whole idea of offering a reward for information about us is nonsense," he said. "We are not doing anything wrong. I renounce violence against humans and animals and I disassociate myself from the extremists."

But still they flock to his cause.