On 22nd September 2026, the last six defendants still facing prosecution over Animal Rising’s 2022 dairy campaign in the UK were formally acquitted after the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) decided not to offer evidence against them in a retrial.
The six had been due to stand trial for a second time, after a jury in 2025 could not reach a majority decision. Their case followed a series of trials that began in late 2024 and ran until June 2025, including six at Worcester Crown Court.
The charges stemmed from the Stop the Supply campaign, carried out over two weeks in September 2022 by almost 200 people. Participants targeted dairy distribution centres across the country, among them sites run by Müller and Arla. They blockaded entrances, climbed onto milk tankers, and in some cases locked themselves to fencing to stop milk supplies from moving. Milk shortages were reported on supermarket shelves in the south of England. Many were charged with public nuisance, which had become a statutory offence earlier in 2022, carrying a maximum sentence of 10 years’ imprisonment. Some defendants pleaded guilty because of the uncertainty and risks of going to trial.
The acquittals follow a Supreme Court ruling in the case of six other people prosecuted over the same campaign. Their trial judge had ruled there was no case to answer, because the action took place at a private site reached by a private road, so they had not obstructed the public in exercising a right enjoyed by the public at large, an essential element of the charge. The CPS appealed and the Court of Appeal overturned that decision, but the defendants took the matter to the Supreme Court. The justices unanimously ruled that people entering or leaving private business premises are not exercising such a right, and neither are they when approaching those premises along a private road. The public nuisance charge therefore did not apply.
After that ruling, the CPS told the court it would offer no evidence against the remaining six, and acknowledged that any conviction would have strong grounds for appeal. Animal Rising said the outcome sets a precedent for how public nuisance law can be applied to peaceful direct action at private sites and gives greater legal protection to people taking such action.
