Animal rights campaigner Vernon Coleman has blasted police after he was stopped and searched.

Dr Coleman accused Thames Valley Police of running a "police state" because they stopped him in Oxford and searched his car after he spoke at an anti-vivisection demonstration.

Dr Coleman said police told him that he and the other occupants of the car were "acting suspiciously" as they returned from a protest at Hillgrove cat farm, near Witney. He said in their search record they noted that they were looking for weapons.

Dr Coleman wrote: "After I got into the car we had done nothing, but drive along main roads from Witney to Oxford. If we were acting suspiciously, then so was every other motorist and passenger." He said the police van which stopped him contained nine officers and these were joined by another two in an unmarked police car.

An angry Dr Coleman added: "If anyone was robbed or mugged last Saturday in the Oxford area and had difficulty in finding a policeman, I can tell them where a good number of Thames Valley's finest were."

He said after an extensive search the police found nothing and let him and his friends go. But they insisted in following their car to the railway station.

*Police are investigating after a telegraph pole carrying phone lines to Hillgrove Farm was cut down early today.

Story date: Monday 01 March

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