The Church of England has issued an appeal to the animal rights activists who stole a woman’s body during a campaign of abuse to return her remains.

Hammond, 82, was the mother-in-law of Christopher Hall, one of the owners of Darley Oaks Farm, in Newchurch, Staffordshire, who have suffered a six year campaign of abuse and intimidation after taking the decision to breed guinea pigs for medical research.

Mrs Hammond’s body was stolen from the grave where she was buried 7 years ago in St Peter’s churchyard in Yoxall, near to the family farm, in October last year.

The Archdeacon of Walsall, the Venerable Bob Jackson, will make a fresh appeal on behalf of the bishop and diocese of Lichfield in the churchyard where Mrs Hammond was buried.

Mr Hall, who owns the Farm with his brother John, announced last week that the farm would stop breeding guinea pigs for medical research and return to traditional farming.

Animal Rights groups and campaigners in Burton-upon-Trent have already announced plans to celebrate the decision, which they claim will attract hundreds of people.

The six-year campaign of abuse against the Hall family has included death threats, hate mail, malicious phone calls, hoax bombs and arson attacks.

John Hall, spoke on the BBC’s Inside Out programme last year of his utter disbelief at the desecration of his mother-in-law’s grave.

“To desecrate lovely Gladys’s grave is an absolute outrage, it just goes beyond belief really. They call us scum but I wonder if they really know the meaning of the word,” he said.

The desecration of Mrs Hammond’s grave was openly condemned by Animal Rights group Speak.

The Hall family expressed the hope that the decision to end 30 years of guinea pig breeding at the farm would lead to the return of Mrs Hammond’s body.