A man has denied eight charges in connection with an alleged attack on a Lincolnshire rabbit farm with links to the research company Huntingdon Life Sciences.

Lewis Pogson (22) pleaded not guilty to blackmail, burglary and criminal damage at Highgate Farm, Normanby-by-Spital, 12 miles north of Lincoln, in January last year.

Pogson also denied a further charge of interfering with a contractual relationship so as to harm an animal research establishment and four conspiracy charges.

A total of 129 rabbits were stolen and more than £70,000 damage was caused during a raid at Highgate Farm.

The damage included vehicles being smashed up and Animal Liberation Front graffiti being daubed on walls.

Highgate Farm has been targeted by animal rights groups because it supplies rabbits used in testing by Huntingdon Life Sciences.

Pogson, of Bush Road, East Peckham, Tonbridge, Kent, was granted bail on a number of conditions, including the lodging of a £50,000 security, a night-time curfew and residence at his mother's address in West Dulwich, London.

The hearing, at Lincoln Crown Court, was adjourned for trial later this year.

For more stories from Lincoln's courts, see Saturday's Echo.