Berkshire Hunt

Douglas Hill, a Hunt master from West Hanningford in Essex says he was actually 'trying to get away' when he spat at a policeman, Chelmsford Magistrates Court heard.

Hill denies assault, criminal damage and harassment, he also denied wiping a bloodied hand on the Pc's jacket and hitting two protesters with his whip.

At Chelmsford magistrates, he said he had not intentionally hit anyone as he tried to get away from a "vicious" crowd of hunt saboteurs.

"They were really trying to get me off my horse ... they are vicious people...There has been a lot happen in the past in other hunts where huntmasters have finished up in hospital. That was obviously in the back of my mind."

With a startling lack of imagination Hill didn't see how his personal fear of danger and pain, terrified, unable to get away, could be applied to any other person or animal.

He accepted that after his arrest he had signed a note of "apology" in Pc Bolton's notebook at the police station, but he said he had not read the note the officer made of their conversation and had not realised what he had signed. He denied apologising for any wrongdoing.

Pc Bolton earlier told the court he had seen Mr Hill assault two hunt saboteurs and was going to arrest him when the huntsman spat at him.

"Don't believe a word of it, he wasn't scared. They love a chase, especially if it gets a bit handy. And anyway it's an effective way of controlling the population, weed out the weak. This one admits he can't even read, it worked on the Irish in the seventies you know."