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Line 1: − + − + − + − === McLibel Trial ===+ − In 1990, McDonald's sued for [[libel]] several members of Greenpeace London (an organisation which at the time of the incident was no longer connected with Greenpeace), who had been writing and distributing leaflets criticizing McDonald's. Of the five defendants, three repented due to lack of money for legal costs. The remaining two, [[Helen Steel]] and [[Dave Morris]], decided to take the case to court in 1994 with [[pro bono]] legal representation and public donations. This became known as the [[McLibel]] Trial.<ref>[http://www.mcspotlight.org/case/trial/story.html The McLibel Trial]</ref>+ − On day 102 in court - March 13th 1995 - McLibel became the longest ever UK libel trial, beating the previous record of 101 days in the Daily Mail vs The Moonies (1982).+ + − On December 11th 1995 it became the longest civil case (as opposed to criminal) in British history. + − On November 1st 1996 (court day 292), McLibel became the longest trial of any kind in English history.+ − On 19th June 1997, Mr Justice Bell took two hours to read his summary. He ruled that Steel and Morris had not proved the allegations against McDonald's on rainforest destruction, heart disease and cancer, food poisoning, starvation in the Third World and bad working conditions. But they had proved that McDonald's "exploit children" with their advertising, falsely advertise their food as nutritious, risk the health of their most regular, long-term customers, are "culpabably responsible" for cruelty to animals, are "strongly antipathetic" to unions and pay their workers low wages.+ + − ('Not proved' does not mean that the allegations against McDonald's are not true, just that the Judge felt that the McLibel Two did not bring sufficient evidence to prove the meanings he had attributed to the leaflet.)+ − + − == External links ==+ − − + − <references />+ − + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
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'''McDonald's''' is an American fast food chain. McDonald's operates more than 30,000 restaurants in more then 100 countries on 6 continents. [http://www.supersizeme.com/home.aspx?page=bythelb]
Daisy the [[cow]]. Stuart the [[sheep]]. Quacky. These are just three of the victims of Britain's worst ever serial animal killer, '''Old McDonald'''. [[1998]] saw a succession of motiveless and seemingly random acts of brutality against [[farm]]yard animals. It was all down to one man. One sick individual with no respect for the lives of our four-legged friends, not to mention poultry. What could drive someone to wreak such senseless and wanton violence? Were children's [[cartoon]]s to blame? Probably not, but surely they couldn't have helped.
==Criticism==
==Young McDonald: The makings of a killer==
McDonald's has often been accused of knowingly selling unhealthy food<ref>[http://books.google.com/books?id=yNFN1OpnkBkC&dq=fast+food+nation&pg=PP1&ots=l_kkxv7x65&sig=M0lMjzxa92mnxMp4CXMS3VaYpLk&prev=http://www.google.com/search%3Fq%3Dfast%2Bfood%2Bnation%26ie%3Dutf-8%26oe%3Dutf-8%26aq%3Dt%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26client%3Dfirefox-a&sa=X&oi=print&ct=title#PPA2,M1 Fast Food Nation]</ref>. McDonald's states that health is not only an issue of food but also of a balanced active lifestyle<ref>[http://www.mcdonalds.com/usa/eat.html McDonald's Corporate website]</ref>; this is why many McDonald's restaurants have a jungle gym for the children to play in and be active. McDonald's also sells salads and water, two healthy food items, and several drinks that are artificially flavored to taste like fruit. The [[schlockumentary]] '[[Super Size Me]]' aimed at proving that McDonald's had no interest in healthy customers whatsoever<ref>[http://www.supersizeme.com/ Super Size Me]</ref>. Many people{{fact}} claim that as a private corporation, McDonald's has no responsibility to provide healthy food.
McDonald, a man so evil, he was born with no first name, came into this world in 1927. He lived a pretty ordinary early existence in the slums of [[Glasgow]], until he reached the macabre age of eleven and was sent to spend the summer in [[France]] on his uncle's farm. And on this farm there was a horse. There was also a goat and some [[chicken]]s and a couple of hundred cows, but all this is beside the point. McDonald had a great time on the farm, climbing trees, riding the animals and dragging a plough across the fields all day. Then, [[World War II|war was declared]]. German soldiers goose-stepped into France and sent down bombs raining like cats and dogs on uncle McDonald's sitting duck of a cow farm. The livestock exploded into little pieces, getting everywhere: here a hoof, there a tail, everywhere a cow part.
Did this experience have an impact on McDonald's future behaviour?
''"Yes it did,"'' says top television [[psychologist]] Dr. Pepe Gonzalez P.h.d. d.o.g. ''"At such a young age there is only one thought that is going to go through a boy's mind. This is so cool! Children love [[explosion]]s. The problems really arise when you associate this with livestock."'' So, should we ban the exploding of live animals in public? ''"Yes, probably,"'' says Dr. Pepe.
==Later life==
Not a great deal is known about McDonald once he became old. He didn't really have many friends and kept himself to himself. He was just a bit of a loner; not what you would expect from your average serial killer. ''"I was shocked when I found out that McDonald did all those nasty things,"'' says his [[Neighbours|neighbour]], ''"I expected the killer to be some sort of psychotic chainsaw-wielding maniac, like that [[Leatherface|Mr McLeod]] across the road."''
''"The only funny thing was his obsession with [[Doctor Doolittle]] and constant complaints that the noises from all those animals were doing his head in. I just told him to send his complaint to the neighbourhood watch and didn't really worry about it any further. There isn't even a farm nearby, come to think of it."''
So, Old McDonald proved that loners are very [[danger]]ous people and we shouldn't be fooled by the fact they don't seem to be doing anyone any harm. In the aftermath of the killings, many concerned mothers called for there to be a public register of known loners: calls that this country's government have shamefully ignored, leaving [[god]] knows how many loners quietly going about their suspiciously harmless business, endangering millions of innocent lives.
==The killings==
February 25th 1998 appeared to be just a normal day for Farmer McFee. Then he went to check on his chickens. [[Lying]] in a heap, next to the coop, were the dismembered remains of Terry, McFee's prized [[rooster]]. His beautiful, red face had been ripped clean off his body, leaving behind a headless chicken.
Police were immediately on the scene - a remarkable coincidence, considering that McFee hadn't phoned them yet. Preliminary forensic analysis showed that Terry was indeed dead and there were also clear signs of a struggle, as revealed by the ruffling of the victim's feathers. Next to the body the words "For the love of god, stop clucking! Och aye" were spelt out in blood. [[Detectives]] began their hunt for a [[fox]] with excellent spelling skills.
The Judge ruled that Steel and Morris had libelled McDonald's, but as they had proved many of the allegations, they would only owe half of the claimed damages: £60,000.
Despite the arrest of numerous foxes, the brutal killings continued unabated. Barely a day seemed to pass without [[Daily Mail|news]] of another gruesome and shocking attack. The second target was Quacky the [[duck]], who was suddenly plucked from his pond early in the morning having been lured there by some excellent bread. Once again, the deed was done by means of beheading and once again the victim died from its sickening injuries. Next, the animal killer moved on to attacking a sheep in the form of local celebrity, Stuart, star of Emmerdale when it was still a farm. This heinous murder proved to police that they were dealing with something much bigger than a mere fox. They were now interested in talking to a disgruntled, [[soap]] opera-watching [[wolf]].
Shane, the disgruntled soap opera-watching wolf, who had been known to police for some time, was subsequently questioned. However, Shane was found to have an excellent alibi, as the fourth attack, that of three unnamed [[pig]]s, occurred during Hollyoaks. This led police to start considering the possibility of a human killer, based on the fact that someone noticed that the heads had been cleanly sliced off, rather than being bitten.
[http://www.mcspotlight.org/ McSpotlight.org]
== References ==
By this point the nation's media had descended on the area. Every paper in the land plotted every move of the "Farmyard Ripper" and speculated on the potential effect on [[house]] prices. BBC's Crimewatch staged a reconstruction of the next attack, on Daisy the Cow, which focused principally on the appeal for the owner of a white tractor that had been spotted near the scene.
[[category:companies]]
Nationwide fame did not get to the ripper's head and the beheadings continued, with Jack the [[donkey]], Fluffykins the [[cat]] and Necky the [[turkey]] all meeting their maker. Then, all of a sudden, the killings stopped. Then they started again a couple of weeks later. Following the attacks on Sugar the [[horse]] and Roger the unusually vocal [[rabbit]], one vigilant travel agent noticed that the lull in murders coincided with Old McDonald's [[holiday]] to Majorca. With this new lead, all the pieces of the puzzle fell into place. It explained the forensic report detailing a "more relaxed and refreshed style" with the last two killings. It also explained why a shovel with "property of McDonald" written on it was found on Mr McFee's farm. A squad of officers were despatched to the home of the psychopath and they got their man.
==The dog that got away==
Old McDonald's 12 victims could so easily have been 13, if it wasn't for the quick thinking of one very brave young border collie called Timmy. He is thought to be the only victim of Old McDonald to have survived and coincidentally, the only one not to have their [[head]] cut off. ''"Of course I was very concerned at the time, having heard about all these awful killings,"'' said Timmy, 5, ''"I wasn't going out at night on my own and had been off my food for a little while. But then I saw this rabbit and, well, you know how it is."''
Timmy found himself alone in the paddock of Mr. McLeish's farm when he was approached by an old man wielding a shovel. Timmy knew immediately that he was in trouble. ''"I tried to scare him off with a "woof woof" here and a "woof woof" there, but that just made him angry and heshouted at me to shut up. So then I started growling. That seemed to confuse him - as if it hadn't occurred to him that dogs could make more than one noise."'' Having successfully diverted the attention of his apprehender, Timmy ran home, a very [[lucky]] dog.
This failed attack would have been a gigantic step forward for the police investigation. Unfortunately, everyone was far more interested in the fact that they'd found a dog that could talk.
==Facing the cold hard grip of justice==
In November 1998 McDonald faced trial for his horrendous crimes. The police van which took him to court was besieged by enraged animal lovers. These protesters screamed torrents of abuse at the monster within, while some threw eggs at the murder-wagon. This act angered the many [[vegan]]s in the crowd, leading to scuffles in the streets, which soon escalated into a full-scale riot. The dozens of apalling injuries inflicted that morning further padded Old McDonald's gruesome resume, reminding everyone of what an emotionally-charged series of incidents had been inflicted on British farms. Something that should never be allowed to happen again.
While chaos reigned on the outside, the events inside court were relatively straightforward. With both forensic and circumstantial evidence on their side, not to mention the fact that McDonald looked like a killer, the prosecution had an easy task of proving that the defendant was a cold-blooded, maniacal, [[calculator|calculated]], deranged slaughterer. The extra charge of being "bloodthirsty" was more dificult to prove and was dropped. Nevertheless the presiding judge could still impose 12 life sentences, ensuring McDonald would stay in jail until he is 192 years old. But is that enough? Some would say not.
Old McDonald is now safely locked up in a secure [[mental illness|mental hospital]], where he receives treatment for the voices in his head. This is some comfort for the family and owners of his victims, but what they really want is some sort of explanation or maybe even an apology. However, McDonald cannot even grant them that small courtesy. These days he can only utter three words: "He", "Aye" and "Oh".
{{FA|revision=2102852|date=21 June 2007}}
[[Category:Farming]] [[Category:People in Hell]] [[Category:Serial Killers]]