AN ANIMAL rights campaigner threatened to kill staff at a hotel because they served foie gras.

Lisa Everton, aged 43, from York Street in Newcastle, sent malicious emails to employees at the Middlethorpe Hotel in York, ordering them to remove the duck liver delicacy from the menu or face the consequences.

She appeared in North Staffordshire Magistrates' Court yesterday charged with sending that message and three other threatening emails to medical companies, Huntingdon Life Sciences, GlaxoSmithKline and AstraZeneca.

Prosecuting, Rob Allen, said: "In one letter she referred to herself as a seasoned militant environmental activist and said the staff had been fairly warned.

"In another she said she fully intended to kill staff at the medical corporations and said she was not a pacifist.

"The comments within the emails caused concern and she also said 'I'm coming for you, you will pay with your skins'."

The court heard how she referred to the death penalty in the emails and said people would be 'hung, drawn and quartered, or whatever the law of the land is'.

She pleaded guilty to the four charges of sending malicious communications.

She has previous convictions for criminal damage, harassment and trespassing on diplomatic premises between 1996 and 2003.

Defending, John Kidney, said: "There is no evidence that she had been near any of these places.

"For six years she behaved impeccably but she stopped taking her medication without any medical advice.

"As long as she takes it I have no reason to suppose she is going to be sending any more bizarre messages."

The court heard how Everton has suffered with bipolar affective disorder for 18 years. She used to be sectioned every year because she would stop taking her anti-psychotic medication.

But for the past six years she has been completely stable.

In 2005 psychiatrists thought she no longer need their help and left her condition to be monitored by her GP.

Speaking to Everton, District Judge David Taylor, said: "In a democratic society people are free to campaign within the law but you fell outside that.

"The contents of the emails are bizarre. When you are not thinking straight you are capable of breaking the law.

"I recognise you were in an unwell state, that does not excuse what you did, but it does put it into context.

"Had I not thought your actions were arising out of a mental disorder you would be getting a very different sentence."

He sentenced her to a 12 month community order with supervision requirements and ordered her to pay the prosecution costs of £80.

Speaking after the court hearing, Everton said: "I would have put the emails differently if I hadn't been ill.

"I thought I was going to go to jail. I believe we have a human kingdom and animals have their own kingdom which should also be protected."