Susan Sutton-Lloyd, a leading figure in the now disbanded Roaming Sabs group, has given up sabbing after a reported fallout with other members of the anti-hunt fraternity.
In a parting shot to her erstwhile colleagues, Sutton-Lloyd told Behind The Masks, “I am no longer a Sab nor do I wish to be part of their cult.”
In January 2024, Sutton-Lloyd was reportedly arrested for assault after a hunt member in North Wales suffered injuries to the groin. Sutton-Lloyd has since claimed that the charges against her have been dropped and that another hunt sab is now being investigated.
The statement follows an apparent rift between Sutton-Lloyd and other saboteurs last autumn. In November 2024, Sutton-Lloyd started posting to pro-hunt Facebook groups, including ‘Herefordshire Hunt Sabs - Who Are They Really’ posing as an anonymous user and attempting to exonerate herself for the assault and blame other sabs.
In one such post, Sutton-Lloyd posted an image of a WhatsApp message, claiming that she was being threatened by fellow hunt saboteurs.
“If Susan doesn’t immediately remove her wild accusations off pro hunt pages she will be in more trouble that [sic] her wildest dreams,” the message read.
Sharing the image to Facebook, Sutton- Lloyd claimed her abuser was “the daughter of a gypsy” - a term that is considered offensive and outdated by the majority of Roma and traveller communities in Britain.
Other users on the Herefordshire Hunt Sabs group have alleged that the WhatsApp message was bogus and that Sutton-Lloyd is trying to create distance between herself and other hunt saboteurs in order to protest her innocence.
At around the same time, Sutton-Lloyd created a private Facebook group called ‘The Truth’ in which she further attempted to exonerate herself of the assault in North Wales.
The cause of the rift between Sutton-Lloyd and other members of the saboteur community is unclear but is thought to relate to the police investigation into the assault. As far back as September she updated her Facebook bio to read “I WILL ONLY SUPPORT ANIMAL ACTIVISM WHEN THE ABUSE FROM HUMANS WITHIN ANIMAL ACTIVISM STOPS”. In October, Sutton Lloyd changed her Facebook profile picture to a graphic which read ‘Stop Blaming Victims’.
Nevertheless, online evidence shows that Sutton-Lloyd was still involved in activism around this time, joining a so-called ‘Weekend of Action’ protest against the breeding of beagles for medical testing at MBR Acres in Cambridgeshire. Employees at the facility have previously described these protests as “terrifying” and applied for a court injunction against the activists.
Since November, Hunts across Cheshire and North Wales have confirmed that they haven’t seen Sutton-Lloyd about. Previously her group, the Roaming Sabs, had regularly collaborated with the infamous Stockport Monitors. In a post to their Facebook page in January 2024, the Roaming Sabs expressed “big love” to the Stockport Monitors with an image that shows Sutton-Lloyd stood near a masked man with the same build and puffer jacket as Stockport leader Paul Allman.
Allman, who received a criminal behaviour order in December 2023 barring him from attending hunts, has twice been convicted of assault against hunt supporters, including a 15-year-old girl in 2022.
Only time will tell if Sutton-Lloyd can truly turn over a new leaf. However the saga points to growing levels of dissent and disorder within the hunt saboteur community, as well as the powerful impact of holding sabs to account publicly. BTM will be watching closely.
