“I took action because what happens behind the closed doors of the dairy industry cannot simply be ignored” says Lancashire animal rights campaigner.

A retired Lancashire nurse is among six Animal Rising campaigners formally today (Tuesday) acquitted of all remaining charges relating to blockades of dairy giant Müller during the group’s 2022 ‘Stop the Supply’ campaign.

The Crown Prosecution Service offered no evidence against them after an Animal Rising Supreme Court victory earlier this year. The six had faced charges of public nuisance and conspiracy to commit criminal damage relating to actions at Müller’s Droitwich site on September 6 and 8 2022.

Pete Bailey, 71, a retired nurse from Lancaster said: “I took action because what happens behind the closed doors of the dairy industry cannot simply be ignored. Cows and calves suffer immensely throughout this system, while intensive animal farming is a major contributor to climate change and environmental destruction.

We can do better for animals and for the future we all share.”

The campaigners first stood trial at Worcester Crown Court in January 2025, but the jury was unable to reach verdicts on the charges that remained, and a retrial was scheduled for October 2026.

The acquittals follow a landmark Supreme Court decision in July involving another group of Animal Rising campaigners prosecuted over the same Müller blockades as part of the same campaign.

The Supreme Court unanimously rejected the CPS’s interpretation of the public nuisance offence, establishing an important precedent over how the law can be applied to actions at private sites. One defendant who was found guilty of criminal damage in the 2015 trial today received a six month suspended sentence.

The six defendants were among several groups of Animal Rising campaigners prosecuted following the September 2022 ‘Stop the Supply’ campaign, which saw hundreds of people take action against dairy companies including Müller and Arla.

The defendants first stood trial at Worcester Crown Court in January 2024.

After a three-week trial, the jury was unable to reach verdicts on the charges that remained, and a second trial was scheduled for October this year.

One defendant subsequently pleaded guilty rather than face another trial, leaving six prepared to return to court.

On July 14, 2026, the Supreme Court unanimously upheld the acquittal of six other Animal Rising campaigners who had been prosecuted for public nuisance over the blockade of the same Müller site on 8 September 2022, as part of the same ‘Stop the Supply’ campaign.

Rejecting an appeal by the CPS which would have overturned their acquittal, the Court ruled that people entering or leaving private business premises were not exercising a right enjoyed by the “public at large” for the purposes of the public nuisance offence under which the campaigners had been charged.

The ruling upheld their acquittals and established an important precedent on the scope of public nuisance law.

The outcome means that campaigners involved in the 2022 actions have not only successfully defended themselves against these prosecutions, but secured a Supreme Court judgment clarifying the limits of public nuisance law and its application to actions taking place at private sites.

The ‘Stop the Supply’ campaign highlighted the dairy industry’s impact on animals, the climate and the environment.

Actions against dairy distribution sites in September 2022 included lorry blockades and road disruptions and led to disruption to milk supplies in parts of England.