Guildford Hunt Sab found NOT GUILTY - charges dropped half way through court case due to no evidence.
Hunt Saboteurs Association News Release 25th August 2017
Guildford Hunt Sab found NOT GUILTY - charges dropped half way through court case due to no evidence.
On the 25th of February hunt saboteurs from the Guildford, West Sussex, South Coast, Croydon and Brighton groups were keeping a watchful eye on the Crawley and Horsham hunt (whom have been convicted of illegal hunting and acts of violence towards hunt saboteurs). As hounds went into cry after a fox, two Guildford sabs followed the hounds. Joint master Neil Millard rode his horse directly into one of the sabs using his horse as a weapon. Millard was convicted of illegal hunting in 2012 alongside two other members of this same hunt.
Arriving on the scene Sussex cops assumed the sab was in the wrong and detained him - despite the sab making the allegation of assault first (which was completely ignored). Neil Millard then claimed the sab had stabbed him in the leg although no injury was evidenced. The sab was searched and, despite no weapons being found, was charged with common assault.
The sab had filmed the entire incident on a GoPro and the footage shows Neil Millard recklessly riding his horse with no retaliation. This charge was dropped but the sab was arrested under caution for aggravated trespass.
During the subsequent court case:
Neil Millard was called and his claim of being stabbed with a needle was brought into question because there was no injury and he didn't visit the hospital. He even continued hunting for the rest of the day. He did provide a video of the incident which shows him turn his horse and aggressively ride into the sab. The audio also has someone say "touch those hounds and I'll f**king kill you.”
The police maintain that the sab was shouting at the hounds to disrupt them however none of the video evidence of the entire incident shows this. All that the videos show is the sab being assaulted and threats from hunters. There is absolutely no evidence of the sab 'disrupting a legal activity' so why was this even brought to court?
The police stated they originally detained the two sabs because they believed an offence of aggravated trespass was being committed - however the sab wasn't arrested for this until 9 hours later. It's clear that the police had hoped to get the sab for common assault but upon realising the sab had filmed it all they had no prospect of a conviction so re-arrested him for the trespass. The sabs were not given any indication that it was private land and were not asked to leave the land and was only informed it was private by the police after being detained.
Police dismissed the sabs first allegation of assault WITH video evidence and decided to favour convicted criminal hunter Neil Millards account and phoned him to ask if he wanted to make an allegation of assault AFTER the sab made the initial complaint of assault.
The police were questioned due to the inconsistencies in the statements as they stated that the sabs 'interfering with the hounds' had been masked which the video clearly shows was untrue although irrelevant as wearing a mask is not a crime.
After hearing all the (lack of) evidence the magistrates decided to dismiss the case and the sab was found NOT GUILTY.
The police on the day seized the sabs wallet and hat and presented it as evidence as it had a HSA logo on.
Lee Moon, Press office of the Hunt Saboteurs Association, stated:
“This hunt has more convictions for hunting than any other in the country, so the default stance of the police that their activities are legal belies the facts. This arrest and court case is a clear attempt by Sussex cops to deter the monitoring and where required, legal disruption of an illegal activity.
Representatives of the HSA have a meeting scheduled with Sussex police. We will be asking them about this case and why membership of our organisation is provided as evidence of wrongdoing in court.”
Connected Links:
Are the Crawley & Horsham the guiltiest hunt?
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Over 100 Hunt Saboteurs Disrupt Inglorious 12th
Hunt Saboteurs Association News Release 13th August 2017
Over 100 hunt saboteurs from around the country descended on the moors of Yorkshire and the Peak District yesterday to disrupt the first day of the grouse shooting season.
They first stopped a shoot on the Notorious Saddleworth Moor before moving South to the Fitzwilliam estate in the heart of the Peak District and preventing an afternoon of shooting. The police attended both incidents but appeared to have little interest in enabling the shooters to continue.
The Glorious 12th is the highlight of the shooting calendar and shooters pay thousands of pounds each for the privilege of blasting birds out of the sky. The shooting estates claim they maintain the grouse moors but the reality is that, although picturesque, they are a barren wasteland. Natural predators such as foxes, stoats and birds of prey are shot and trapped in large numbers, mountain hares are killed as they carry tics that may affect the grouse and the grouse themselves are heavily medicated as their unnaturally high levels allows disease to spread. By the end of the grouse shooting season in December over 500,000 birds will have been shot.
Lee Moon, spokesperson for the Hunt Saboteurs Association, stated: “ Well done to the hunt saboteurs who stood between the guns and the grouse yesterday. There is currently a groundswell of protest against the shooting industry in the UK. For years they have hidden behind their flimsy claims of conservation but this mask has now slipped and the reality of this cruel sport has been exposed. Not only are hundreds of thousands of grouse killed each year but any potential predator is wiped out by armed gamekeepers who shoot, trap and poison all the other species on the grouse moors. Yesterday on the moors we didn't see a single bird, apart from grouse, all day. Their beauty disguises the grim reality of these barren killing fields.”
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ALSTON HARE WEEK...THE FINAL NAIL IN THE COFFIN?
News has reached the HSA that all is not well with the Weardale & Tees Valley Beagles (WTV), organisers of the notorious Alston Hare Week hunting festival.
Until recently the WTV were one of the few beagle packs to still enjoy 'professional' status: they had their own kennels and a paid employee to feed and hunt the hounds. Now, however, they find themselves in such dire financial straits that they have been forced to sell off their kennels and become an 'amateur' pack. The hounds will be kennelled with a neighbouring foxhunt and their kennel huntsman, Gary Wingar, has already defected south to become huntsman of the Easton Harriers.
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Why this sudden downturn in the fortunes of the WTV Beagles? It's all to do with the collapse of their annual hunting festival, Alston Hare Week. This event involved southern beagle packs travelling north every October to hunt hares in the WTV's wild upland country. The visitors paid through the nose for this privilege and were further fleeced at a series of social events held throughout the week.The HSA sabotaged Alston Hare Week in 2014 and, the following two years, prevented it from happening at all. Deprived of this extra revenue the WTV have hit hard times, and it seems less likely than ever that they will be able to resurrect their cruel hunting festival.
However, the HSA is not complacent and we are determined that Alston Hare Week will never happen again. Our specialist operatives are already monitoring the situation on the ground and we are grateful to the many Alston residents who continue to send us information about the decline of the Weardale & Tees Valley Beagles.
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