A Croydon animal rights campaigner jailed for orchestrating a six-year reign of terror will be allowed to protest again after he is released, appeal judges ruled on Friday.

Gavin Medd-Hall was labelled an "urban terrorist" by his trial judge after posting detailed information about targets on an anti-animal testing website, leading to a £12m campaign of damage by fanatics.

He was jailed for eight years after being found guilty of conspiracy to blackmail in 2008, with Mr Justice Butterfield describing the campaign against companies linked to Huntington Life Sciences as “relentless, sustained and merciless persecution”.

The judge called for the law to be changed to allow tougher sentences for blackmailers, warning the network’s ringleaders were likely to return to extremism when they were released.

But Medd-Hall had his lifetime ban from protesting overturned by judges on London’s Criminal Appeal Court, who ruled the Asbo was against his human rights and right to peaceful protest.

The Asbo, which bans him from taking part in animal rights protests or contributing to websites dedicated to such protests, will remain in place for five years following Medd-Hall’s release.

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