Hunt Saboteur wins £5,500 pay out from Wiltshire Police

Tuesday 11th May 2004

A hunt saboteur today agreed to a settlement of £5,500 from Wiltshire
Constabulary in respect of a claim for wrongful arrest and subsequent
false imprisonment dating to October 2001. The arrest took place at Ham,
near Hungerford, and the saboteur was one of a group of 11 protestors
who located a pheasant shoot and used non-violent direct action to
prevent further shooting*.The remaining 10 protestors are currently in
consultation with the solicitors, Irwin Mitchell of Sheffield, with
respect to other possible claims. The settlement was reached on the day
the case was due to be heard at County Court.

The hunt saboteur, a male aged 27 originally from Bristol but now living
in Reading, was arrested by police who attended the scene after the
shoot had packed up for lunch. All protestors present were arrested on
'Suspicion of ABH' and held for an average of 10 hours at Swindon West
Lea Police Station before being bailed to allow for further police
enquiries to be made. Notice was issued in late December by Wiltshire
Police to advise all those concerned that no further action was being
taken, and it was at this stage that the saboteur decided to take up a
civil case against them.

Dawn Preston, a spokesperson for the Hunt Saboteurs Association,
commented 'Here we see a clear-cut case of the police acting simply on
the word of the bloodsports fraternity, and not stopping for one minute
to consider the evidence in the matter. 11 people in total were deprived
of their liberty, with the average time held 10 hours. All too often
hunt saboteurs get a very raw deal from the legal system, and for once
we're please to report a case of justice winning through, albeit with
the need for the saboteur concerned to fight for it! We can only hope
that the good men and women of the Wiltshire Constabulary learn from
this costly lesson, and take a moment to stop and think about what they
are doing in future before simply arresting protestors.'

Notes to Editors:-
*It is standard shoot sabotage practice to simply walk up to the guns on
a static (stationary) shoot and stand next to the person with the
shotgun, as under the British Association of Shooting and Conservation
rules the shooter should immediately break his/her gun and lock it away
- thus preventing further shooting.

For further comment please contact Dawn Preston on 07904 387559.

The solicitor in the case was Iftikhar Manzoor for Irwin Mitchell
Solicitors, and he can be contacted on 0870 1500 100.