Animal rights activist Rose Patterson has been convicted of stealing three lambs from King Charles’s Sandringham estate in Norfolk after taking part in a rescue operation she insisted was intended to save the animals from slaughter.
Patterson, 37, and fellow Animal Rising activists Sarah Foy and Rosa Sharkey were found guilty at Norwich Crown Court following a three-day trial. The jury deliberated for almost four hours before returning unanimous verdicts.
The three women were fined a combined total of just over £1,000 and each ordered to complete 150 hours of unpaid work.
Patterson said she was surprised by the verdict, having believed she had “a 50-50 chance” of being acquitted. She told the court that the incident was “a sheep open rescue, not a sheep crime” and said she had voluntarily handed herself in to police afterwards.
The activists entered a field at Appleton Farm on the Sandringham estate in 2023, climbing over an electric fence before removing three lambs. They named the animals Sunny, Sammy and Sooty and transported them in a van to an undisclosed sanctuary.
Patterson said the lambs were now safe and would be allowed to live into old age. “I saved their lives,” she said. “They are in a secret place now, safe from slaughter, free to live until they grow old.”
Animal Rising activists targeted royal flock
The activists said they had chosen the King’s sheep because he had described himself as an environmentalist and animal lover. Patterson also argued that Charles might approve of their actions because of his environmental views.
But the animals were part of the King’s flock of organic Aberfield sheep, and the prosecution case resulted in convictions for theft. The missing lambs have not been found, although Patterson said she knew how they were progressing and might visit them.
She maintained that taking the lambs was justified because they were destined to be slaughtered at about five months old. However, she acknowledged that not every lamb in Britain’s sheep-farming system is slaughtered, with around four million retained each year to become adult sheep.
Patterson, who defended herself, said she did not believe taking property was necessarily theft if there were “honest reasons”. When asked whether the same principle could apply to taking the King’s Crown Jewels, she replied: “It depends on the context. Maybe someone had a very good reason for stealing the Crown Jewels.”
She also said the three lambs had been running with their mothers when they were taken. Patterson argued that they were going to be separated from them soon enough, but acknowledged that the animals had been removed from the flock before that happened.
Animal Rising, formerly known as Animal Rebellion, campaigns for an end to factory farming and a move towards plant-based food systems. Patterson, who has a master’s degree in animal welfare science, ethics and law, became a volunteer with the organisation in 2019 and is now its director.
She said she had been arrested more than 20 times during her activism and had three other convictions, including for aggravated trespass at a beagle breeding facility, criminal damage during a protest outside a McDonald’s factory and disrupting a horserace in Ayr.
Patterson said the incident at the McDonald’s protest, when she chained herself to a van using thumb cuffs, had been a mistake. She was removed by police and accidentally kicked the tail-light of a police van, for which she said she apologised.
She lives in east London with her husband, Wayne, and their two rescue dogs, Oliver and James. The household is vegan, and Patterson said she regarded the dogs as her children.
Despite the conviction, Patterson said she had no regrets about removing the lambs. “It was a risk but I genuinely thought I was doing the right thing and I’d do it all again tomorrow,” she said.
She added that she hoped to persuade farmers and the public to adopt plant-based systems and vegetarian diets, saying: “I mean, there is no point in doing this work if you think it’s impossible, right?”
