A Skipton woman who was arrested and charged with blackmail following a nationwide police operation has been granted bail by a judge at Bradford Crown Court.

Suzanne Jaggers, 35, of Upper Sackville Street, had been remanded in custody after she was arrested as part of a co-ordinated series of police raids targetting criminal activity associated with animal rights extremism.

In total 32 people were arrested during the police operation which also included raids on addresses in the Netherlands and Belgium.

Judge Scott Wolstenholme today heard a bail application on behalf of Jaggers and he decided to grant her bail with a series of conditions.

As well as residing at her home address and reporting to Skipton police station on a daily basis, Jaggers has been ordered to surrender any passport or travel documents.

She is prohibited from applying for any further travel documents and is banned from having any contact, directly or indirectly, with any employee of Huntingdon Life Sciences or any person known or suspected of being associated with any business or company associated with Huntingdon Life Sciences.

Jaggers is only allowed contact with other animal rights activists via her legal representatives and is banned from participating, either in person, by mail or via the internet, in any animal rights demonstrations in the United Kingdom or abroad.

Jaggers will next appear at Bradford Crown Court on May 15.