Animal rights activists carried out a "reconnaissance" raid on a Lincolnshire rabbit farm with links to the Huntingdon Life Sciences research company, a jury heard.

The four arrived at Highgate Farm near Normanby-by-Spital, in the middle of the night on October 13 last year.

All four had links to the campaigning group SHAC – Stop Hunitingdon Animal Cruelty – which listed Highgate Farm on its website as a potential target for "direct action".

Dean Cain (27) of King Street, Ulverston, Cumbria, Luke Steele (18) of Woodside View, Leeds and a 17-year-old boy from Urmston, Manchester, had previously admitted conspiracy to interfere with a contractual relationship.

However Cain's girlfriend Victoria Waterhouse-Taylor (18) of Eva Street, Rusholme, Manchester, denies the same charge.

The trial continues.

For more on this case, see Wednesday's Echo.