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A conversation with two members of Wiltshire’s Moonraker Hunt Sabs recorded just a few hours after they uploaded footage to Twitter which shows Charles Carter, Huntsman of the Royal Artillery Hunt, driving his car at them and knocking one of them to the ground. What follows is unverified in that I didn’t witness it myself, but the incident undoubtedly took place, and took place at the hunt’s kennels which are situated on Ministry of Defence land not far from Salisbury Plain – which is where the RA often hunt. The sabs and I talked together in a Wiltshire pub next to a crackling fire which you might be able to hear in the background. You’ll hear from the two sabs involved in the incident first (fortunately – and it is fortunately – neither was seriously hurt), and we are joined by a third Moonraker about ten minutes in.
Incidentally, the name Charles Carter will be familiar to anyone who keeps a wary eye on fox hunting in Wiltshire. In October 2021 Salisbury Plain Monitors recorded a video at the army’s Larkhill barracks showing a fox running ahead of Carter as he blows his horn urging his hounds on. The video led to MoD police charging Carter in May 2022 – the first time MoD Police have brought a charge of illegal hunting. However, after two plea hearings in which Carter plead not guilty the charge was dropped due to a “legal technicality” – MoD Police had missed the file submission date by just one day because of a bank holiday weekend.
Both MoD Police and the Crown Prosecution Service believed the case was strong enough to take Carter to court and Salisbury Plains Monitors say their version of events was backed up by CCTV mounted at the Larkhill barracks. The failure to prosecute came down to a missed deadline and not the quality of evidence submitted.
The sabs in this incident are – at the time of recording anyway – planning to take further action…
For more information:
- Moonraker Hunt Sabs on Facebook and Twitter
- Protect the Wild has an ongoing campaign calling for the MoD to ban all hunting on its land – please go to ‘No Defence for Hunting’
