Essex & Suffolk Hunt (ESH) supporter Tom Greig was filmed smashing hunt monitor Chantelle Leach’s phone and shoving her during the ESH’s meet in Little Bentley on 26 February. However, Chantelle told Protect the Wild that Greig’s assault continued after the film is cut.
Police have been sent the video, but Chantelle says that their response so far has been insufficient. Protect the Wild is calling for people to contact Essex Police and pressure them to take stronger action against Greig.
She spoke to Protect the Wild’s Rob Pownall about the incident, you can watch the video interview below:
Pony ridden into a ditch
Chantelle was out monitoring the ESH as a volunteer with Suffolk Action for Wildlife (SAF). Another volunteer, who was with Chantelle, got out of their car to check on one of the Hunt’s ponies. She had noticed that the pony had been ridden into a deep ditch, and she wanted to check if he was injured.
Chantelle got out of the car too when she saw the other volunteer being shoved by a Hunt supporter. She stepped onto a grass verge next to the road to give her buddy backup. Chantelle also started filming the pony in the ditch as, she said, “I thought it was animal cruelty, basically”.
A vicious assault to destroy evidence
A couple of hunt supporters continued to hassle the two volunteers, telling them to stop filming. Chantelle told us that she ignored this and stood her ground. At the beginning of the video that has been shared widely on social media, Chantelle can be seen being hassled by Tom Greig’s mum. She told Pownall:
“from nowhere, someone grabbed my phone from that my hand and flung it. And then he starts grabbing me. He starts throwing me around. Unfortunately, this is when the lady filming stops filming, and she didn’t get [footage] of my assault. So it’s really hard for people to understand what actually happened to me. You see one of the times he smashed my phone, but after that, he kept hold of my phone and he was grabbing me here (gestures to her collar area).
I remember my forearms hurting afterwards. I still have shoulder pains. I still have lower back pain. So he was shaking me down quite a bit. The witness told me that she noticed he was throwing me off the verge and stuff.
The surprise assault was by Tom Greig. Chantelle told Protect the Wild that the assault carried on, and escalated, after the camera was turned off. She said that in moments like this:
“you kind of forget what exactly is happening, you’re in fight or flight mode. And I had no choice but to be thrown around. So I was in fight mode.
I was trying to get my phone back. I was trying to get him off me. I remember at one point trying to grab him back, and I just couldn’t. He’s about six foot something, and he was completely overpowering me to the point where the lady watching it all that was filming [previously] said she couldn’t even see me. At one point, he was overpowering me so much. He was sort of standing over me, throwing me around.”
Greig then smashed the phone on the floor a second time, this time causing an unmistakeable cracking noise. Chantelle told us that she thinks that Greig wanted to destroy the phone to get rid of the footage that had been taken of the pony in the ditch.
Several female field riders were watching the assault, but said nothing.
Chantelle told us that as well as the financial loss, the phone had sentimental value as it had been a gift. On top of that, she said that she has been forced to miss work since the incident, because of the stress.
More threats from Greig
Another piece of footage shows a conversation between Greig and another SAF volunteer. The SAF member says that the incident where he smashes Chantelle’s phone is “all on film”, Greig responds aggressively: “do you want me to smash your phone too, dickhead”.
Chantelle was taken to A&E where she was checked out by a paramedic.
Police do nothing
When Chantelle provided the footage to the police they initially said they couldn’t identify Greig from the footage. When Chantelle and SAF provided Greig’s identity to the police, they said “how have you identified him”, and advised Chantelle not to go out monitoring again.
Chantelle even supplied the police with a piece of footage from a subsequent Hunt meet where she was mocked by the Hunt master of ESH for having a “shiny new phone”. The police had the audacity to tell Chantelle that she herself could be issued a warning for the language she used in responding to him.
Throughout all this, Greig continued to go out with the ESH, and even seems to have been given a special position by the Hunt as a gate opener.
This isn’t the first time Greig has assaulted sabs. In fact, Chantelle told us that he has been responsible for other attacks on female wildlife defenders in the past and “there’s nothing stopping him from doing it again”.
“I just don’t want them to silence me or any other women”
Chantelle has refused to let the assault go unaddressed, and Essex Police eventually brought Grieig in for a voluntary interview. They have now indicated that Greig could be issued with a caution, and asked to attend an anger management course. Police say that Grieg was remorseful during his police interview, but Chantelle says he has repeatedly taunted and laughed at her since the incident, so it is clear he doesn’t feel any regret for what happened. Essex Police claim that the case wouldn’t stand up in court. Despite this, they have asked Chantelle to fill out a form to claim compensation for the phone, showing they accept that Greig broke it.
However, Chantelle doesn’t think that a caution is enough, and that the police should take the assault seriously. Chantelle told Protect the Wild:
“It’s just going to give police a bigger task in the future, because this guy is just going to keep reoffending. So I just don’t want them to silence me or any other women, because, you know, there’s an there’s a national emergency with violence against women at the moment, and then this is how women are treated when they’re attacked, when they’re assaulted.”
Police don’t seem to care
Chantelle said that throughout her interactions with Essex Police they “didn’t sound sound like they cared at all”, they repeatedly got her name wrong and, in one telephone conversation, an officer ended the call saying “I have crimes to deal with”.
Chantelle has asked for a female officer to deal with her case in the future. She, and other members of SAF, have made complaints to the police, and Chantelle is planning to complain to the Police and Crime Commissioner too. She is also seeking legal advice about the possibilities for taking Tom Greig to court.
Blaming the sabs
Chantelle told us that the Hunt often uses the narrative that sabs and monitors deserve what’s coming to them because they are filming. She emphasises that they have the right to film, and they know that the hunt is involved in breaches of wildlife protection legislation. In fact ex-ESH huntsman Sam Staniland plead guilty to animal cruelty charges on the same day as the assault on Chantelle. Protect the Wild has seen evidence from Sabs and monitors of 28 incidents of the ESH chasing foxes this season, in flagrant breach of the Hunting Act 2004.
Chantelle told Protect the Wild why she’s refusing to stop talking about the assault. She said: “I hate bullying. This is why I stand up for animals because they’re being bullied continuously in life” and its important to raise awareness about “how violent the Hunt are” to humans too.
Protect the Wild is saddened by the assault on Chantelle, and the way Essex Police have treated her.
Chantelle is calling on other wildlife defenders to call on the police to take action against Greig. Protect the Wild has created an e-petition where you can write a message to Essex Constabulary. Please take a few minutes to support Chantelle and fill out the petition here.
- Suffolk Action for Wildlife can only exist through donations. Consider donating to the monitors here. Any amount will be gratefully appreciated.
- Check out our Protectors of the Wild page on ‘Assaults and the Law‘.
- If you’ve been affected by violence from the hunt when out sabbing it can be useful to get mental health support. Protect the Wild is in touch with a trained counsellor who can provide sessions to sabs, funded by Protect the Wild. Click here to find out more.
