A member of West Midlands Hunt Saboteurs was taken to hospital on Saturday 30 November after a Warwickshire Hunt rider deliberately rode his horse at her.
The sabs posted a video of the incident on Facebook, showing the hunt galloping through a field. They reported:
“The rider can be seen riding his horse at speed into the sab who had her back to him as she walked up a public right of way on the Upton Estate. She required treatment in A&E after suffering a fractured coccyx and whiplash. No one from the hunt bothered to see if she was ok.”
The sabs continued:
“It was only a matter of time before the Warwickshire Hunt seriously hurt someone. Warwickshire Police must also accept their share of the blame for this incident for enabling and emboldening the Warwickshire Hunt by giving them carte blanche to do what they want including issuing threats to other members of our group.”
Warwickshire Police have been subject to intense scrutiny by the public for its blatant bias around policing of fox hunting. Warwickshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner is suspected of having had an influence on the force’s decision to drop a Community Protection Notice (CPN) that it had issued against the Warwickshire Hunt for causing road chaos. The CPN was quickly dropped and replaced with a secret ‘protocol’. The public lost trust in Warwickshire Police – and Seccombe himself – over the CPN scandal.
Sabs putting their lives on the line
Sadly, Protect the Wild writes repeatedly about violence carried out during fox hunts, and it isn’t unusual to see riders aggressively using their horses as weapons.
In 2014, Mark Doggrell trampled a North Dorset Hunt Saboteur with his horse and then galloped away. The sab suffered a collapsed lung and broken ribs. The CPS dropped charges against Doggrell, saying there was“insufficient evidence that the incident could have been foreseen”.
Another infamous incident was the attack on Northants Hunt Sab member Mel Broughton, which took place in September 2020. The saboteur suffered life-threatening injuries and was airlifted to hospital from the scene. He had a collapsed lung, six broken ribs, a broken collar bone and a shattered shoulder blade. Chris Mardles, former whipper-in of the Pytchley with Woodland Hunt, was sentenced to just 18 months in prison at Nottingham Crown Court.
This same saboteur has been violently attacked a number of other times by hunters. He suffered two broken ribs when he was attacked during a Cottesmore Hunt meet in September 2021. Leicestershire Police dropped the case in November of that year, citing “evidential difficulties”.
In February 2023, Cottesmore huntsman Sam Jones trampled a hunt saboteur with his horse. The sabs caught the whole incident on video. The footage clearly shows Jones on his horse, stopping at the gate and talking to one sab. He then turns his horse away from the gate, briefly moving out of the footage, before making a calculated decision to turn his horse around, gallop at the gate, jump over it and trample another sab. Disgracefully, Jones was acquitted of assault in November 2023.
And Wynnstay huntsman Chris Woodward pleaded guilty in July 2023 after he rode his horse at a Cheshire Monitors volunteer during a fox hunting meet in January 2023. Woodward’s fine? Community service and the payment of court costs.
