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Animal rights activists in NZ fear their cause will be damaged if link is found to murder of academic
(IRN News Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)Animal rights campaigners are concerned the brutal murder of a former Auckland University academic in England could tarnish the reputation of animal rights' groups worldwide.
Barbara Johnston has been found by police strangled and repeatedly stabbed in her flat in Oxford.
Police have arrested a 41-year-old man and believe the death could be the work of animal rights extremists. The former academic was involved in research preventing brain damage in premature babies during a 23 year stay in this country.
Thames Valley Police have appealed for anyone who may have seen anything suspicious to contact them. They believe Dr Johnston may have opened the door to her killer as there were no signs of a forced entry.
Back in this country, SAFE Campaign Director Hans Kriek says if that proves to be the case, it should not reflect on the animals rights movement as a whole. He admits it would be a huge blow to the movement if police suspicions are confirmed.
He is not aware of activists hurting anyone in such a manner.
Auckland University Liggins Institute director Peter Gluckman told the New Zealand Herald that his former colleague was a loner, obsessed with her work.
Dr Johnston returned to Britain in September last year. The 55-year-old was not married and had no children, and is understood to have been unemployed.
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