A prisoner on Death Row in Texas is lending his support to closing down Hillgrove farm, where cats are bred for animal research.

John Noland, a convicted murderer facing the death penalty, has sent four hand-made clocks with a cat design to anti-vivisection campaigner Cynthia O'Neill, who is selling them to raise money for the Save the Hillgrove Cats Campaign.

Mrs O'Neill, 60, of Church Meadow, Milton-under-Wychwood, said: "I have a friend in London who writes to him on Death Row and she told him about the campaign.

"He could face the death penalty at any moment and is kept in terrible conditions yet he is concerned about the plight of cats being bred to use in experiments.

"Prisoners on death row are allowed to make things and he has made these wooden clocks with a cat design which are very pretty and I am selling them to raise money for the cause," said Mrs O'Neill.

She has already sold one of the clocks for £10 and is expecting to sell the rest very quickly.

Mrs O'Neill is one of the leading campaigners against the closure of Hillgrove Farm, Minster Lovell, and has appeared in court accused of harassing the owner, farmer Chris Brown.

"The campaign is very hard-up and we badly need money. People are helping us in all sorts of ways, from John Noland's clocks to a pensioner who gives us a bit of her pension each week," she said.

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