The costs were mounting today as Barry Horne lay in a York District Hospital bed recovering from his mystery hunger strike.

The animal rights activist's action came to an end on Friday night when he gave up his baffling 19-day fast at Full Sutton jail, near York, and was transferred to hospital.

He spent the weekend being rehydrated by doctors, while a team of prison warders - two at a time - kept a round-the-clock guard.

Last time Horne took up a bed at York District Hospital, during his 68-day hunger strike last year, he ran up a £11,000 bill for the health authority.

A Prison Service spokesman said Horne's condition was improving. He did not know how much Horne's action was costing the service but said: "The fact that we have to put two guards on duty at the hospital means we are taking two members of staff away from the prison."

Supporters of Barry Horne from the animal rights movement - who last time kept a 24-hour vigil outside York District Hospital - are not repeating their campaign.

The patch of grass outside the hospital on Wigginton Road, where activists camped out in the cold in solidarity to Horne, was conspicuously empty this weekend. A spokesman for the Animal Rights Coalition said there were no plans to mount a vigil again, adding: "The hunger strike is over."

The reasons behind Horne's refusal to take food remained a mystery, with only close relatives being allowed access to him. They have remained tight-lipped since Horne, who is serving an 18-year sentence for a firebombing campaign, began his hunger strike on March 30.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.