Beds & Bucks Hunt Sabs are disappointed at a police climbdown following a vicious assault by Fitzwilliam huntsman Shaun Parish on one of their sabs.
Parish smashed the sab in the face with his hard riding hat.
Beds & Bucks, together with their colleagues from Peterborough Sabs, had been preventing illegal hunting by the Fitzwilliam Hunt in the vicinity of Southorpe last Saturday when the attack took place.
After having his attempts at illegal hunting curtailed, a screaming Parish dismounted his horse, head-butted the sab, then used his hard riding hat to continue the assault. Meanwhile, another Fitzwilliam rider, George Kennedy, used horse his to pin a sab against a tree in an effort to prevent them filming the attack on their colleague. Fortunately, Parish’s victim was wearing a body camera – for their protection – and the whole attack was recorded in crystal-clear 4K!
Realising the gravity of their actions, the hunt then fled the scene and headed back to the meet where Parish was promptly arrested. However, after initially responding well by arresting Parish, just nine hours later the sab received notification that the police were dropping the investigation in favour of a “community resolution”. This meant that Parish simply had to scrawl a quick note of apology about the altacation [sic] which was emailed to the injured sab that same evening.
It is hugely disappointing to once again have to report on the failure of policing around hunting.
Cambridgeshire Police appear to have folded under the pressure from the super-rich hunt master Philip Neylor-Leyland and the Fitzwilliam Hunt’s legal attack dogs. Both sab groups have worked hard to foster a good working relationship with Cambridge Rural Crime Action Team (RCAT) and they have produced the goods when achieving the convictions of the Fitzwilliam Hunt previously.
Beds & Bucks will be releasing the full assault video in due course. A spokesperson commented,
“The Fitzwilliam Hunt operate outside the law, week in, week out. It’s proven in the courts with four convictions and proven with our own eyes every week. Foxes are hunted relentlessly in spite of zero legitimacy in their choice of exemptions: flushing to a bird of prey, and trail hunting – both disproven in a court of law. This incident marks a new low – violent, unprovoked assault, towards a witness in another upcoming case, should not be waived away with a scrawled apology which fits on a sheet of toilet paper. If anyone wants to believe the law will protect them from acts of violence, I’d suggest they think again – deep pockets, good connections and specialist legal representation mean you can smash riding hats in people’s faces at will. You just need to pretend to be sorry in a scribbled note. Not. Good. Enough.”
If you wish to complain then please call 101, ask for Cambridge police if questioned and ask to speak to senior leadership. The complaints review team can be contacted at crtcambs@cambs.police.uk
Support our vital work by becoming a member.
We are the only organisation that works directly in the field to save wildlife through direct action.
