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The Justice Department (JD) was founded in the United Kingdom by animal rights activists who
declared they were willing to use violence against their opponents. Initially
calling for "abusers to have but a taste of the fear and
anguish their victims suffer on a daily basis", activists established a
separate idea from adhering to the Animal Liberation Front's (ALF)
guidelines of non-violent resistance, similar to that
of the Animal Rights Militia (ARM).
The first recorded action took place during Christmas 1993, when pipe bombs in poster tubes were
sent to Shamrock Farm, a
supplier of primates for animal experimentation.
The group had formed the same leaderless-resistance model as the ALF,
which consists of small, autonomous, covert cells acting independently
The
manifesto reads as follows: "The Animal Liberation Front achieved what
other methods have not while adhering to nonviolence. A separate idea was established that
decided animal abusers had been warned long enough. ...
The time has come for abusers to have but a taste of the fear and anguish their
victims suffer on a daily basis."
The first recorded Justice Department action took place during Christmas 1993, when two foot long
poster tubes with explosive devices were sent to Shamrock Farm, a supplier of primates for animal
research; the action carried claims of HIV-infected needles. Eleven more devices
were intercepted by Special Branch at sorting offices with one that
was not recovered. It targeted the manager of GlaxoSmithKline in Hereford, who was also a member of the RSPCA's animal
experimentation advisory board and Institute of Animal Technicians council. He
opened the package which exploded in his face. Days later the group targeted Boots in Cornwall, publicly stating that they had placed their
products on their shelves with devices. Boots issued an alert to their eleven
hundred stores after one customer bought one of the products and contacted the
police who deactivated the device
Activists working as the Justice Department have sent out letter bombs and
envelopes rigged with poisoned razor
blades. In
1994, a rat trap equipped with razor blades was sent to Prince
Charles after he took his sons on their first foxhunt. Tom King, a former defence
secretary, was sent an incendiary device, which failed to explode, after he
defended foxhunting during a debate in parliament. Michael Howard, at the time Home Secretary, also
received one.
Shortly after, the group set fire to two boats belonging to the owner of
Garetmar kennels (formally known as Cottagepatch) in Hampshire and sent two videos disguised incendiary
devices to the Boots store
in Cambridge, which was
intercepted, and another to the British National Party (BNP) HQ in South London; injuring Alfred
Waite. Another round
of devices by the now quite violent group were claimed to be increasingly
sophisticated and random yet again injured staff, this time of Stena
Sealink, which were attacked in Gloucestershire, Oxford, Edinburgh and Kent, in connection with the live exports trade. This
resulted in ferry companies involved in live exports pulling out because of fear
for their staff and their safety.
In January, the group claimed responsibility for sending envelopes with
blades soaked in rat poison to 80 researchers, hunting guides, and
others in the United States, and in British Columbia and Alberta, Canada. A note inside the envelopes read:
"Dear animal killing scum! Hope we sliced your finger wide open and that you now
die from the rat poison we smeared on the razor blade." David Barbarash, a Vancouver-based activist who became
North American spokesman for the Animal Liberation Front, was charged in
connection with the attacks, but the case against him was dropped
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