AN Evesham animal rights activist has claimed that the drug-testing group Huntingdon Life Sciences is trying to make her homeless by laying the £200,000 cost of an anti-harassment case at her door.

Lynn Sawyer, a midwife based in Evesham, said she would "rather die" than pay the £205,551 HLS has said is owed to them following the court case.

The chief executive of HLS, Brian Cass, is pushing forward with the case. He said: "It is only right that they should be challenged to pay the costs of us getting into a situation where we are forced to provide protection for our staff because of activity."

Ms Sawyer has sought legal advice over an interim charging order that the company obtained over her property in Boat Lane, Evesham, last week. The court will meet next month to decide whether this order will be made final.

Ms Sawyer's house is used as the official address of Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty, the main protest group against HLS although SHAC said she is no longer actively involved with them.

She said: "If anybody protests against anything the Harassment Act could have the potential to be used on anybody. I have been on the roof of HLS and I drank a bottle of beer at a conference. Do I really deserve to be made homeless?" Ms Sawyer is the only one of the 12 named defendants to be ordered to pay, in a court case bought by HLS, because other defendants were taking the case to a full trial.