Hunt Foes Face Trial in Plot to Open Grave
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YATE, England — A trial was ordered Tuesday for two anti-hunt activists accused of trying to dig up the body of the 10th Duke of Beaufort, an avid fox hunter, with the intention of sending his head to Princess Anne.
The prosecutor told the preliminary hearing in this town near Bristol in western England that the attempt failed because their shovel broke.
Terrence James Helsby and John Christopher Curtin, both 22 and members of a group called the Hunt Retribution Squad, were ordered held pending trial on a date to be set later.
Helsby and Curtin are accused of trying to open the duke’s grave at Badminton Parish Church on Dec. 26, 1984. The duke died in February, 1984.
Prosecutor Ian Glen said the men planned to send the duke’s head to Princess Anne, daughter of Queen Elizabeth II, and scatter parts of the body at the meeting place of a fox hunt.
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