A hunt supporter has told a London jury how he ‘le

A hunt supporter has told a London jury how he ‘let
loose’ and smashed a van carrying hunt saboteurs with a wooden
post.

Terrierman Roger Wakefield, 40, admitted getting ‘a bit
hot under the collar’ when the saboteur driver refused to move
the van out of a field on Edwin’s Hall Farm, South Woodham
Ferrers, near Chelmsford, Essex, on April 8, last year.

‘I asked the saboteurs in the politest way I could to
get their vehicle out of the way,’ Wakefield said, giving
evidence.

‘But they refused and laughed and shouted.

‘I got quite a bit of abuse.

‘I picked up a post, a wooden stake, and walked back to
the van.

‘I then let loose.

I smashed the windows, the side
window where he (the driver) was sitting and walked round to the
back of the van and smashed the window there.

‘The van then moved.

‘
Knightsbridge Crown Court heard that a saboteur’s face
was ‘completely cut-up’ from ‘flying glass’ and other people in
the van also suffered cuts.

Under cross-examination by prosecutor Mr Brian Altman,
Wakefield, part of the Essex Farmers and Union Hunt, said he
‘attacked’ the van because the driver refused to move it.

‘I admit I got a bit hot under the collar,’ the
defendant said.

Wakefield, of Mundon Road, Mundon, Essex, has admitted
criminal damage on the van and faces sentencing after the trial.

He denies further charges of affray, violent disorder
and attempting to inflict grievous bodily harm on saboteur Gary
Robinson, who was allegedly punched unconscious.

The defendant said Bryn Chittenden, 27, who allegedly
helped him smash the van, was not involved in the attack.

‘There was nobody else with me,’ Wakefield said.

Mr Altman asked: ‘Are you covering up for Mr Chittenden?
Are you protecting him?’
‘No,’ said Wakefield
Chittenden, of Priory Road, Bicknacre, Essex, denies
criminal damage.

He also denies affray and violent disorder.

A third defendant, Jeremy Hickman, 24, of Thornborough
Avenue, South Woodham Ferrers, denies violent disorder.

The three defendants, all supporting the Essex Farmers
and Union Hunt, allegedly attacked and injured several saboteurs
on April 8, last year – the last day of the season.

Wakefield began his evidence by admitting he had three
previous convictions – one when he was 15, assault when he was
20, for which he was fined pds stlng 10, and making a false
declaration on a shotgun certificate four years ago.

The jury heard no further details about the three
crimes.

Wakefield said he had been an amateur terrierman with
the Essex hunt for the past three or four seasons.

He emphatically denied punching and kicking a group of
four saboteurs, James Butcher, Sheriden Sayer, Stephen Hinckling
and Maxine Jackson, on a forest footpath soon after the hunt
began.

He said he knew nothing about any such incident.

He also denied using his Land Rover to try and run over
saboteurs in a field.

He and Chittenden were standing near a badger sett in
the field when they saw five or six saboteurs armed with sticks
and stones ‘coming directly towards us’, Wakefield said.

‘Gary Robinson was in the front with a stick,’ he said.

‘I said to Bryn, ‘Maybe we should get back in the Land
Rover and get out of the field’.

‘
As the pair got into the Land Rover and drove off, Mr
Robinson allegedly ‘ran at’ the vehicle and hit the driver’s
side with his stick, the jury heard.

”The rest of the saboteurs disbanded and started
running at my Land Rover,’ Wakefield said.

‘I tried to avoid the people as they came towards me.

‘
When asked by defence counsel Mr Robert Watson if he
deliberately tried to run over the saboteurs, Wakefield said:
‘I didn’t deliberately drive at anybody.

‘If it was my intention to run anybody over I’m sure I
could have.

‘They were jumping in the way of my Land Rover.

I drove
in a zig-zaggy way to miss people.

‘
During a ‘general melee’ involving mounted huntsmen,
supporters, and saboteurs near the field gate, a saboteur
allegedly ‘had a go’ at Wakefield with a stick, the court heard.

A group of schoolgirls monitoring the ‘interaction’
between hunt supporters and saboteurs as part of their sociology
course took photographs and made notes of the incident, the
trial heard.

‘A young lady started screaming abuse at me and swinging
her camera at me,’ Wakefield said.

‘As the camera swung towards me I grabbed it and threw
it away.

It went into a ditch.

‘I was just disarming her.

‘
The schoolgirls were students from Bower Park
Comprehensive, in Havering Road, Chase Cross, Romford, Essex.

Huntsman Douglas Mann, of Epping, who has ridden with
the Essex hunt for the past 22 seasons, said he saw a saboteur
‘set about’ Wakefield.

‘There was a fist fight between the two of them,’ Mr
Mann said.

‘There were sabs everywhere with sticks.

They were
rushing around threatening people and carrying on.

‘They were trying to intimidate us.

‘
The second defendant to give evidence assistant terrierman
Bryn Chittenden, 27, denied any involvement in the alleged attacks
on hunt saboteurs on April 8, last year.

Chittenden, wearing a dark blue suit, tie, and a blue satin
waistcoat, told the jury he was in fact injured when hit with a
stick by a hostile saboteur, whose name he did not know.

‘One of the saboteurs tried to hit me over the head with
a stick,’ he said.

‘I put my hand in front of my head.

The stick broke.

I
think I grabbed the remainder of the stick and threw it away.

‘
Chittenden, a tall man with straight blonde hair swept
back over his head, said an injury to his finger next to a ring
he was wearing at the time must have been caused by the stick.

He denied, under cross examination by prosecutor Mr
Brian Altman, injuring the finger by punching a saboteur.

Asked by his counsel Mr Antony Chinn if he punched or
hit with a stick anyone during the alleged violence at Edwin’s
Hall Farm, South Woodham Ferrers, near Chelmsford, Essex,
Chittenden said: ‘No.

‘
‘Did you threaten anyone with any violence?’ asked Mr
Chinn.

‘No,’ said the defendant.

Under cross examination, Mr Altman asked: ‘Are you
saying you did absolutely nothing that day?’
Chittenden replied: ‘That’s right.

‘
Mr Altman: ‘Are you saying you weren’t a party to the
incident on the footpath, Mr Wakefield trying to run people over
in the field, any punch ups and scuffles that went on, the
smashing up of the blue transit van, the ripping out of a CB
radio, the pulling on the exhaust pipe of the yellow Sherpa
vehicle or the striking of Nicholas Kemp?’
Chittenden: ‘That’s right.

‘
The defendant also denied squaring his version of events
with co-defendant Roger Wakefield, 40, before the trial.

‘We spoke about the incidents but we haven’t made a
joint effort to come to some sort of agreement,’ he said.

Earlier today (Thursday), hunt follower Mr Colin Wilson,
of Woodham Ferrers Village, said he saw saboteurs with sticks
attack Wakefield’s Land Rover in a field.

‘The saboteurs were carrying large pieces of wood in an
aggressive way,’ Mr Wilson said.

‘I thought to myself, ‘There’s going to be trouble’.

‘I was concerned for Roger Wakefield’s safety because I
thought he was in danger.

‘
Under cross examination by Mr Altman, Mr Wilson, in his
60s, who saw the incident from a hill 400 yards away, admitted
his vision was ‘slightly blurred’ because he was not wearing his
glasses at the time.

The trial was adjourned until Monday, next week.

ends.

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