Disabled rider targeted by hunt saboteurs prompts call for police action

A disabled rider has spoken out in a national newspaper interview, criticising inaction by police, after being routinely targeted by hunt saboteurs in the Leicestershire countryside.

Lucilla Paull, 50, believes her only escape from being a wheelchair user is participating in a hunt which gives her the opportunity to enjoy and appreciate the countryside.

Last year, Mrs Paull took part in an interview for the Countryside Alliance’s My Countryside magazine. A week later, when out riding with the Cottesmore Hunt in Leicestershire, she was confronted by a sab, and believes it was the magazine piece that prompted the attack.

“The sabs were there in huge numbers, there were about 100 of them,” Mrs Paull told The Telegraph.

“I am easily recognisable, because I have a leg brace on, and that makes me very vulnerable.

“We were riding in single file when he jumped out from behind a tree and in front of my cantering horse. How I did not hit him I will never know. I can go forwards and backwards but because I do not have the use of my leg, I cannot make a sideways movement.

“He poked me in the eye and started shouting abuse at me, saying ‘call yourself ******* disabled’.  Initially I said sorry, even though he had thrown himself in front of me, because that is the kind of person I am.”

Mrs Paull suffered symphysis pubis dysfunction (SPD) during pregnancy which, along with failed spinal surgery has left her unable to walk and reliant on large amounts of morphine.

She relies on pain relief to be able to get in the saddle and straps her left leg, which she cannot use, to the horse, but believes that the day she gives up riding is the day that she gives up.

Shortly after the incident in Leicestershire, Mrs Paull reported the attack as a hate crime because she believes she was “singled out” for her disability.

“I described it to the police as a bit like Emily Davison and the King’s horse,” she explained. “I told them that I was scared to be out, that I could have killed that man and that I didn’t think they would believe my story if I had.

“It wasn’t being filmed, because we were not expecting it, and unfortunately Leicestershire police don’t believe anybody who hunts, so they didn’t even bother investigating.

“I have told the police again and again that it has now got to the stage where somebody is going to get seriously hurt or killed, particularly in Leicestershire.”

Mrs Paull alleges that the Leicestershire police officers present made no attempt to even contact the witnesses and she believes that it is this “inaction" that is emboldening sabs.

The next time she went out with the Cottesmore, in February, the hunt was again confronted by sabs who blocked them into a field and made it almost impossible for her to ride past by shouting increasingly loud abuse.

The former chartered accountant believes that it was the same sab, but says that the failure of the police officer on the scene to use his powers to force him to remove his mask meant he could not be identified or prosecuted. She says Leicestershire police have been passed the same name for a well-known animal rights activist from a number of sources.

She has since complained to Leicestershire police about the handling of her allegations and has now taken her grievance to the Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC), Rupert Matthews.

While the PCC will not reinvestigate her original allegations, an investigation into whether the police handled her report properly is ongoing.

She has told the PCC that because the allegation “was not taken seriously or investigated properly” it has “led to a pattern of behaviour where those opposed to trail hunting have on subsequent occasions tried to throw themselves in front of horses in an attempt to incriminate the rider”.

The Countryside Alliance’s Director of Hunting, Polly Portwin, urged the police “to take the very real threat that hunt saboteurs pose seriously and to take robust action against all those who are responsible for such anti-social behaviour to prevent this situation escalating”.

“Committing a hate crime towards an individual under any circumstances is disgraceful but purposefully targeting somebody with a disability whilst they are taking part in a lawful activity which benefits their physical and mental well-being is particularly vile,” she added.

Image credit: Nico Morgan