Saboteur charged with assault and harassment of hunt employee

An anti-fox hunting activist, who targets the Flint and Denbigh hunt has been charged with aggravated trespass, assault and harassment of a hunt employee. She has also been given a restraining order, forbidding her from contacting the man.

The charges relate to an incident on 28 January and footage that Rhyl-based Judi Hewitt took and posted onto YouTube of the hunt's countryman Rob Smith using a terrier to flush a fox from underground to a waiting gun, in accordance with the Hunting Act. She can be heard screaming and trying to stop Mr Smith from doing his job. She is also alleged to have made threats against Mr Smith on social media.

No date has yet been set for the court case and Ms Hewitt has not entered a plea.
Joint-master of the Flint and Denbigh hunt Jeremy Reed said: "Rob was keeping to the letter of the law and had the full permission of the landowner. We understand that people do oppose fox management but we believe Ms Hewitt went too far."

For more information, contact Countryside Alliance head of media Charlotte Cooper on 0207 840 9220 or [email protected]

(Image by Julie Owen)