POLICE are investigating threatening letters sent by animal rights extremists to GlaxoSmithKline shareholders in the North.

Investors across the region have been targeted by the activists, who warned them their names would be made public unless they sold their shares.

The campaigners were last night strongly criticised by stockbroker groups and officials from the company, who accused them of "terrorism".

Letters sent by the unnamed activists warned people with a stake in Glaxo that their names and addresses would be published on the Internet unless they sold their shares within a fortnight.

The company, which has a factory in Barnard Castle, County Durham, has since won a court injunction to prevent the extremists carrying out their threats.

Glaxo approached the police and wrote to its shareholders to reassure them, and to offer them the chance of transferring their shares, free of charge, into a nominee account to protect their privacy.

The company also urged investors to keep the extremists' letters, together with their original envelopes, in a safe place for collection by police.

Officers believe the animal rights group targeted GlaxoSmithKline shareholders because of the company's links to medical research group Huntingdon Life Sciences for its use of animals in tests.

About 50 shareholders across the country are thought to have been sent the letters, which are dated May 1.

The Northern Echo has learnt that police in County Durham, Teesside, North Yorkshire and Northumbria have been called in, although it is not known how many people in the region have been targeted.

The letters have been collected by officers and passed to the National Domestic Extremism Unit, which is co-ordinating the investigation, for forensic examination.

Spokesmen for the Cleveland, Northumbria and North Yorkshire police forces confirmed they had been alerted by shareholders in their areas, but declined to say how many.

A Durham Police spokesman last night said an unspecified number of letters had been received, and a GlaxoSmithKline official said there had been reports of two being received by people at the Barnard Castle site.

GlaxoSmithKline employs 1,150 people at its County Durham factory and has warned the workers to be on their guard against extremists.

Barnard Castle Town councillor John Watson said: "These private shareholders both locally and nationally represent a very small percentage of the overall company stock - most of which will be held by pension funds and corporate accounts.

"Targeting private shareholders who have a relatively small number of shares is not going to have much of an effect, even if they did sell them.

"It is a regrettable action by the extremists because it undermines a very serious issue."

The Durham Police spokesman said: "We have had several calls from concerned shareholders, and a handful of these have resulted in police taking these letters."

The company's chief executive, JP Garnier, said the investors had shown "courage, integrity and resilience" in the face of the threats, and accused the activists of behaving deplorably.

Stockbroker groups also denounced the campaign as terrorism, while medical researchers have defended animal testing as a small but vital part of their work that had saved millions of lives.

However, animal rights groups, such as People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, last night defended the campaign.

Spokesman John Curtin said: "If you invest in a company that is involved in animal torture, then you should expect - it is a public limited company - that information is open to the public."

Police are urging anyone who has received a letter to call them immediately.

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