Activists Who Stole Lambs From King Charles' Sandringham Estate Found Guilty — as Thieves Have 'No Intention' of Returning Animals to Monarch
A British jury convicted three animal rights activists of stealing lambs
Sept. 27 2026, Published 6:52 p.m. ET
A British jury on Thursday convicted three animal rights activists of stealing lambs from King Charles III's Sandringham Estate.
RadarOnline.com can reveal the women said they had rescued the animals. Each received a community sentence, and the lambs remain at an undisclosed sanctuary.
Guilty of Theft at Norwich Crown Court
Each received 150 hours of unpaid work.
Rosa Sharkey, 26, Sarah Foy, 26, and Rose Patterson, 37, all members of the campaign group Animal Rising, had denied theft.
After a three-day trial, a jury of five men and seven women took three hours and 48 minutes to find them guilty on a unanimous vote.
Judge Anthony Bate imposed a 12-month community order on each woman, with 150 hours of unpaid work, and ordered each to pay 250 pounds toward prosecution costs. He said the case raised "sensitive and important matters of public interest" and called the defendants intelligent and capable women who can make a valuable contribution to society.
Sharkey now lives in Brighton, Foy is from Alfreton in Derbyshire, and Patterson, who lives in London, is a director of Animal Rising.
How it All Went Down
The women named them Sammy, Sunny and Sooty.
The theft was from Appleton Farm on the Norfolk estate back in May 2023.
The women spent hours in a field so the lambs would get used to them, then carried three animals to a van. A fourth person, who was not on trial and identified in court only as Ben, drove them to a sanctuary.
The group named the lambs Sammy, Sunny and Sooty and posted a video of the removal.
The next day, the three women went to Windsor Castle with signs that read "I rescued the King's sheep."
Activists Called it a Rescue
They told police the king would have consented.
In a prepared statement to the police, they said they believed the king "would have consented to the lambs' rescue."
Sharkey told the court that the king "says he's an environmentalist and an animal lover."
They said returning the animals would expose them to "unlawful welfare standards."
Sharkey told the court she accepted they had taken sheep that were not theirs and also agreed she had "no intention of giving them back."
She said the aim was to open the king’s eyes to slaughterhouse practice and the land cost of sheep farming.
Prosecutor Dingle Clark told jurors it was "obvious nonsense" that the owner would have consented, and the judge directed that theft was proved only if the jury was sure the defendants acted dishonestly.
The Lambs Have Not Been Returned
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The animals remain at an undisclosed sanctuary.
Authorities have not recovered the animals, and Sharkey said in testimony that they were still alive and well.
Animal Rising said after the verdict that its view of the episode as a rescue had not changed and the king's estate did not make the animals' location public.
