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Mel Broughton was sentenced to 10 years on February 13th 2009 in connection with the SPEAK campaign. Mel has been told he must serve at least five years before being eligible for release.

A jury cleared him of possessing explosive substances, but failed to reach a verdict on other charges. Following his retrial in 2009 he was convicted and sentenced to 10 years in prison for 'conspiracy to commit arson'.

Evidence against him was flimsy, including:

* His moral support for illegal direct action, which he was open about.
* His previous convictions for arson, which again is no secret.
* His speeches against the Oxford lab, which were perfectly legal
* Possession of some sparklers, which isn't illegal.
* Supposed DNA evidence on an match found on an incendiary device, which an expert claimed in court to be fatally flawed.

A spokesperson for SPEAK Campaigns vowed to continue the fight; "We are more determined than ever to continue the campaign against Oxford University's abuse of animals,"

What you can send: SAEs; a small, non ring-binded calendar; Postal Orders made out on front to "HMPS", with the inmate's name and number on back, and also the sender's name and address if there is room.

Birthday: 5 July

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SPEAK - Wrong Again:

Part 1

Part 2

Felix - Victim of Oxford University:

Felix is dead now, and it’s important that we remember him. We have looked at the photos of him on numerous occasions and have been lost in his sad expression, his beautiful face. We will never forget him. Cry if you want to. Don’t be ashamed to mourn his sad, sad life. At SPEAK everyone has shed a tear for poor Felix. We had for months now been fighting to save Felix but we couldn’t save him despite all the efforts we put into getting him released. However, the fight has not been in vain: it continues.

This is far from the end of Felix's story. This is just the beginning. We know more today than we ever knew about the project Felix was being used and abused for. We now know that Felix was just the first victim of a 5 year project that began in 2006; a project that will be using, abusing and killing 2 macaque monkeys every year. The project will run for 5 years, which means that it still has about 4 years to run.