Three women accused of stealing three lambs from a farm on a royal estate told police they believed King Charles III "would have consented to their rescue", a court has heard. Sarah Foy, 26, Rose Patterson, 37, and Rosa Sharkey, 26, are on trial charged with theft following an incident in May 2023 in Sandringham, Norfolk.
The members of campaign group Animal Rising appeared at Norwich Crown Court, where a jury heard they had told police they could not give the lambs back because it would "expose them to unlawful welfare standards". The three defendants handed themselves in to Windsor police station the day after the lambs were taken on 24 May, but deny charges of theft.
The court heard that by the time the women handed themselves in, the lambs had already been offloaded to someone else and remain missing. Gordon Robinson, the head stockman, stated in court that he recognised the lambs were taken from Appleton Farm in Sandringham after seeing videos on social media.
Prosecutor Dingle Clark said there was "no dispute" the three women had taken the lambs, valued between £400 and £500 in total, and the issue was whether they had acted "dishonestly". Ms Foy, Ms Patterson, and Ms Sharkey have each been charged with one count of stealing three lambs, three counts of causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal, and three counts of failing to record movement of an animal.