Urban fox hunting video was a spoof

Seems I was right - it was a spoof after all. Apparently it was all about showing up how awful foxhunting really is, and how the government shouldn't repeal the Hunting Act. Yeah right, not a bunch of smug media students who're ever so slightly scared at the response to their silly prank. Read the story at the Guardian here...

Oh, and when you've finished, check out this piece about the RSPB on the Telegraph website -Delingpole at his hilarious best... "Even GOD hates the RSPB, that’s how awful it is."

Urban fox hunting video

The foxhunting debate is heading to the top of the news agenda once again - only this time it's urban foxes, and the 'hunters' are a gang of masked youths with cricket bats.

A group calling themselves the Urban Fox Hunters posted a video which appears to show a fox being drugged, chased, and battered to death.

Predictably, animal rights groups were outraged, and the video was pulled down from Youtube, Facebook, Vimeo and other hosting sites - but the internet is no place to try and put a cat (fox?) back in its bag. The group leader, 'Lone Horseman', continues to email copies of the video on request, and anyone can re-post the video faster than image-conscious sites can remove it.

Tabloids and the BBC picked up the story, and now we have fox-huggers offering a £1,000 reward for the identity of 'Lone Horseman'. The RSPCA investigations team are said to be studying the video "with a view to prosecution." More extreme groups are talking of taking the law into their own hands.

The saga is providing a fascinating insight into the British public's confused attitude to animals, something that 'Lone Horseman' seems determined to highlight with comments such as: "Let me ask you hippes one question.... a kid was stabbed round here a while back - no one batted an eyelid. Then we put down a filthy diseased pest and you all go effing balistic. Just look at yourselves!"

But is the whole thing an elaborate spoof? To me it has a distinct ring of Brass Eye about it. No doubt the truth will emerge in due course.

Outfoxing the antis

Here's one for sale at www.animalgifts4u.co.uk

Those sentimental bunny huggers at the LACS are desperately trying to trivialise the election, to the point where they are actually telling their supporters to go round with glove puppet foxes, to do the 'Hello Mum' thing behind candidates being filmed or photographed.

Apparently this will undermine the serious messages that Conservative candidates are trying to put across, and put foxhunting at the top of the political agenda.

Oops! Did I say Conservative? After getting their knuckles rapped by the Charities Commission, the LACS are pretending they are totally neutral about who you vote for, just so long as they aren't posh want to keep the Hunting Act.

Anyhow, I propose the following:

Please would all readers of this blog make the utmost effort to sneak a stuffed toy fox, fox glove puppet, etc, into any photo opportunity by any politician, perhaps even dress up as a fox yourself - by way of showing your support for the Repeal of the ludicrous Hunting Act.

Countryside Alliance spokesmen will henceforth be issued with soft toy foxes, to be used in all interviews and photo opportunities.

Thank you.


UPDATE: Ho ho, rapid re-think by LACS - apparently I "fell into their trap". Takes me right back to the playground.

Bryan Griffiths cleared of manslaughter

Just in: Griffiths has been found not guilty of the manslaughter of Trevor Morse. News story here.

Simon Hart of the Countryside Alliance comments: "It is for the police to enforce the law of the land, not self-appointed vigilantes. Surely Trevor Morse’s death makes that clear?" Read the full article here.

With impeccable taste and timing, Griffiths' colleagues have vowed to continue their "fight" against the Warwickshire Hunt, declaring "the war is far from over."

Griffiths has told the Mirror "I've had a lot of sleepless nights. It's something I shall live with for the rest of my life."

From the Telegraph:

It can also be disclosed that John Curtin, 47, who was a passenger in the gyrocopter when Mr Morse died, is an animal rights' extremist with a string of convictions.

In the transcript of an interview he gave six years ago, Mr Curtin boasted of violence and arson against opponents.

He once plotted to dig up the remains of the 10th Duke of Beaufort and send his head to the Princess Royal.

Yet the jury at Birmingham crown court heard nothing about Mr Curtin's criminal past when it was ruled, after legal discussions that were not held in front of the jury, that his past record meant he should not give evidence.

Bryan Griffiths jury is out

The jury has retired to consider its verdict, reports the BBC here.

Someone calling him/herself "bobbyb" has added the following comment on an earlier post about this trial. Can't say I agree with the sentiments expressed, but it's interesting to get a view from inside the courtroom:

Was in court today to hear Judges summing up and self defense was part of her oration, the jury had five questions to consider, a sort of flow chart, 1, if no, Not guilty, if yes goto 2, and again till last one and if that no, not guilty or yes guilty, Jury out at 14:15, sent home 16:15.
As for the fear Bryan did impart to the independent witnesses was that he was shot at and was a bit worried when he saw the landrover enter the airfield all this before the incident and the prosecution accept now that Bryan was shot at, as the Police did a reconstruction with their Helicopter and proved that what Bryan said he saw was right, I don't think they did it for Bryan's benefit. As for Violence on Hunts, in my experiance it has always come from the Hunt never the other way round, if anyone can prove it, by showing prosecutions please do, whereas Hunt Supporters have been Prosecuted, also I have seen foxes run through a large flock of sheep and the sheep haven't lifted their heads, but as soon as they hear the dogs, they scatter, so what harms sheep more dogs or foxes and if it wasn't for the sports shooters supporting the hunts the hunts will die.

Griffiths had 'poor attitude'

It has emerged in court that Bryan Griffiths had been reprimanded for risky flying while monitoring another hunt just three days before Trevor Morse's death. An instructor had criticised his 'poor attitude' after another incident. Griffiths was also accused of misleading police six times during questioning. More from the Coventry Telegraph here.

Trevor Morse had 'time to move'

An extraordinary argument is being put forward by the defence in the trial of Bryan Griffiths. They appear to be saying that Trevor Morse had 'time to move' and chose to stay put.

Are they suggesting he wanted to commit suicide? I can't see the argument 'he had time to move' cutting much ice if a car driver were to run down and kill a policeman.

Previously Griffiths had complained that Morse had been 'intrusive and aggressive', even going so far as taking photographs of him. Gasp! A bit like the way antis photograph hunt followers day in day out. Sometimes from gyrocopters.

Regardless of the outcome of this trial, it's providing a real insight into the minds of these fanatics.

UPDATE 10/3:

Inevitable, I suppose, that Griffiths is now telling the court how "extremely frightened" he was when confronted by Morse. His "primary concern was to get myself and the aircraft out of there as quickly as possible.”

'Oh dear, the twat didn't stand clear of it'

Those are the words heard on video moments after Trevor Morse was killed by a gyrocopter piloted by Bryan Griffiths who is on trial at Birmingham Crown Court, charged with 'manslaughter by gross negligence'.

The words may prove crucial in determining Griffiths' guilt or innocence. They certainly ring very hollow coming from people who lecture others on callousness and cruelty.

The Mail website has a detailed - and sickeningly graphic - report of today's proceedings here: A fox hunting supporter's head was cleaved from 'top to bottom' by the blades of a gyrocopter after he tried to confront the pilot for tracking his hunt, a court heard today...

More details in the Telegraph's report here.

UPDATE 3/3:

Coverage of the case continues on the Telegraph website today; Julie Sargeant, who travelled to the airfield with Trevor Morse, broke down while giving evidence - she told the court how Morse had stood in front of the gyro as the engine started.

Bryan Griffiths trial begins

This photo of Griffiths at the controls appears on the Daily Mail website
Note how the propeller blades become an almost invisible blur when rotating at speed

The trial begins today (1 March) at Birmingham Crown Court of Bryan Griffiths, charged with killing a hunt supporter who died after being struck by the propeller blades of a gyrocopter. Griffiths denies the manslaughter of Warwickshire Hunt member Trevor Morse on 9 March last year. Previous posts here, here and here.

UPDATE 2/3:

On Monday (1 March) the jury was sworn in, and Griffiths pleaded not guilty to "manslaughter by gross negligence" - by driving towards Trevor Morse "at speed a gyrocopter with an unguarded revolving rear propeller at a time when it was unsafe to do so". More details in the Birmingham Post here. The trial resumes today.
Chloe Finch of the Countryside Alliance told Horse & Hound: "We expect both Peter Bunce of the POWA [Protect Our Wild Animals campaign] who filmed the whole incident and convicted animal rights extremist John Curtin, who was Griffiths' co-pilot, to appear as witnesses." Also expected in court are Warwickshire master Antony Spencer and the female hunt supporter who was with Trevor when he was killed. Police are not planning to release the video filmed by Bunce.

NOTE:

For more recent updates on this case, use the Bryan Griffiths tag.

Policing foxhunting

If ever there was proof that the Hunting Act is an ass, it's the ludicrous ACPO Investigators Manual. LACS have "welcomed" the impenetrable 67-page document, which for some reason doesn't appear on ACPO's own website but is available from the LACS here.

If I was LACS I wouldn't welcome it, I'd be hopping mad. Reading between the lines, the document seems to be telling police they have more important things to do, but they'd better feign interest in order to:

• positively promote our impartiality
• provide reassurance that we will police without prejudice
• provide reassurance that we support and respect the right to both legitimate protest and to hunt lawfully

Far from untangling the legal minefield, the document adds layer upon layer of complication which should put off any police officer thinking of getting involved.

My favourite bit is the 'Risk Assessment' at the end of the document: "Officers to be made aware that horses may bite and kick...". Dealing with animal carcasses: "Gloves to be worn. Clothing to be treated as contaminated waste. Officers wash hands change clothing as soon as practicable."

I note that the antis' new tactics involve asking people in the street whether foxhunting should remain banned, and then trying to frighten politicians with the results. I think I shall have a poll to ask Joe Public: "What will influence the way you cast your vote at the next election?" If keeping the Hunting Act makes a tenth of one percent, I'll eat my hat.

Foxhunting at BBC Radio 4

Photo: Steve Bowbrick

It seems a fox slipped through security at BBC Radio 4, and did a bit of damage around some first floor offices at Wood Lane. Steve Bowbrick's blog post here. Some resourceful BBC employee managed to trap the miscreant in this cage (is that a bag of steak in the cage?) and Charlie was ejected 'into the wild'. I'm guessing he'll be back...

Gyro death update

I see from the server logs that a certain Kit Davidson has been trawling this blog and others searching the name 'POWA' (the anti organisation 'Protect Our Wild Animals') - which reminded me that we hadn't heard anything recently about the murder charges against gyrocopter hunt monitor Bryan Griffiths.

The following report appeared in the Stratford Observer, but has since been taken down. There's not necessarily anything suspicious in that, but it seems slightly odd that there has been so little reporting of the developments in the case...

Gyrocopter pilot murder charge could be dismissed

Court Reporter
11 June 2009

A MURDER charge facing a pilot accused of killing a hunt supporter with the tail propeller of his gyrocopter could be thrown out.
Lawyers for Bryan Griffiths, accused of killing hunt supporter Trevor Morse at Long Marston airfield in March, are to apply for the murder charge against him to be dismissed.
The charge follows an incident when 48-year-old Mr Morse, a hunt supporter from Alderminster, was struck by the rear propeller of the gyrocopter 54-year-old Griffiths, of Wiltshire Close, Bedworth, was piloting.
It had landed to refuel at the airfield after being used to monitor a hunt in the area.
Mr Morse, a self-employed gardener and a volunteer marshal for the Warwickshire Hunt, died ‘virtually immediately’ from severe head injuries after being struck by the tail propeller.
Griffiths’ case was listed at Warwick Crown Court for a plea and case management hearing – but at the request of his barrister the murder charge was not put to him.
Peter Lownds, defending, explained that there was to be 'an application to dismiss' the murder charge so the case was adjourned and Griffiths was granted conditional bail.
Mr Lownds asked Judge Richard Griffith-Jones to set a timetable for both the defence and prosecution to serve ‘skeleton arguments’ prior to a hearing at which the application to dismiss the charge will be made.
The Judge pointed out the murder case must be heard by a High Court judge, and it had been released to him only for the plea and case management hearing.
He ordered the defence should serve its argument by June 26, with the prosecution response to it by July 24, with a hearing on the application to dismiss the charges some time in October.
Judge Griffith-Jones said: "The issue will be whether there is a prima facie case of murder. The issue of manslaughter will be another matter altogether."
Mr Lownds confirmed there would still be a trial even if the defence application to dismiss the murder charge is successful.
The Judge said the court staff would be asked to find a slot for the trial to take place, possibly at Birmingham Crown Court in January next year.

Otis Ferry, something fishy?

What's going on here then? Yesterday, Otis Ferry was cleared of the witness intimidation charges for which he'd been locked up for four months. Because the prosecution offered no evidence. And then wouldn't explain why. Telegraph story here. My earlier report here.

Prosecutor Kerry Barker told Gloucester Crown Court: "I don't intend to explain in a public court why those instructing me took the decision they took. The reasons why are not a matter that is or should be in the public domain."

Smells decidedly fishy to me. If there wasn't any evidence, what was the justification for locking him up? And if there was, why are they being so mysterious about not presenting it in court?

Maybe I've been watching Spooks too much, but it sounds a bit like one of those scenarios where the security services don't want details of their surveillance methods to come out in open court.

UPDATE: The swearier bloggers on the net are getting quite aerated about this one. See Ambush Predator, Devil's Kitchen and Englishman's Castle.

Gyrocopter hunt death

The gyrocopter, pictured on 12 Feb overflying a hunt
- pic from forum at www.hunting-directory.co.uk

A hunt supporter has been killed by a gyrocopter thought to be following hunts in the Warwickshire area. Two people have been arrested on suspicion of murder. BBC News story here »

More info here » It seems that complaints have been made recently about a gyro swooping aggressively over the Warwickshire and Heythrop hunts. "It is understood that an animal rights' group, Protect Our Wild Animals (Powa), has been monitoring the Warwickshire and the Heythrop hunts from a gyrocopter over the past three weeks."

Comment from the airfield manager suggests the aircraft was taxiing at the time it struck Trevor Morse, 48. There's obviously more to this story than meets the eye. Could Mr Morse have gone to remonstrate with the pilot?

Regd owner here

Selection of photos of the aircraft here

Note the video camera mount beside the passenger seat on this image here

Discussion on a pilots' forum here

...and on a gyro forum here

...another flyers' forum here

...and here's a thing - a pic of the self-same gyro, taken by a hunt supporter and posted on 12 Feb, with the comment "Has anyone come across this character at all. He was flying above us today while we were on hound exercise". EXIF data shows it was taken with a 400mm lens on a Canon 40D, so it wasn't as close as it looks, but even so...

Update: The League Against Cruel Sports has issued a statement distancing itself here »

Gyrocopter tactics show 'desperation' of antis - Times Online.

Update 11 March: One man charged with murder - BBC report here »

Update 12 March: POWA have now posted a statement on their website: "The incident which took place at Long Marston on Monday 9th March was a tragedy. We send our condolences to the family of the deceased."

Warwicks Police news releases here »

Bryan Griffiths, 54, has appeared in court charged with murder. Story in the Sun here. The court was told that an eyewitness filmed the incident with a video camera.

-------------

Interesting speculation here on the pprune forum:

I'm told that the video is horribly clear. The aircraft set off, from a standstill, towards him, and mowed him down head-on. The aircraft passenger is a well-known animal rights activist with a long and repulsive list of convictions. The video was shot by a third anti, who was doing a ground support/handling role.

-------------

This post is clearly bothering the antis, who would rather brush the whole thing under the carpet. I've had the following 'comment' from 'Phasianus' which may or may not be is a feeble disguise for the anti-shooting extremist, woodworker and general busybody Kit Davidson of Animal Aid:

This appalling incident was an undeniable tragedy for everyone involved, most of all for the victim's family. But what has all this got to do with the editor of a shooting magazine? Why are you further reporting on an occurrence that is already well covered in the mainstream news media? Why are you doing your own little web trawl to gather and publish as much information on this non-shooting issue as you can? You must be the only editor in the Argent [sic] stable of titles who under the apparent auspices of his magazine, is working outside of his brief, following his own agenda and neatly filing his missives under 'antis' and 'foxhunting'. There is a clue there, isn't there James? But I may not be the only one to notice that despite the almost simultaneous prominent jailing of huntsman Christopher Marles, who used his mount to dangerously assault an 'anti', you have failed to report or file this criminal conviction in which the Recorder labelled Marles a "drunken lout". I don't care if you block the publication of my comment or not. Prejudice exists doesn't it James?

Cunningly poisonous stuff - in a few short sentences he has attempted to belittle my efforts, drive a wedge between different branches of fieldsports, threaten me with the disapproval of my employers, and suggest that the jailing of someone for ABH somehow has some relevance to the welfare of foxes. But then twisting the truth and peddling bigotry is his stock in trade.