CAMBRIDGE ANTI-BLOODSPORTS

News Release: February 16th 1995

PROTESTOR CHARGED WITH DISRUPTING BARBARIC ACTIVITY!

Once more we find out what 'justice' means in Britain.

Tim Spencer, a hunt protester from Cambridge, has been summoned to appear in court under charges of aggravated trespass, along with two other protesters from Northamptonshire, for the alleged crime of shouting to fox hounds with the intention of disrupting the callous and sadistic pastime of foxhunting. This is the second charge Mr. Spencer is facing under the infamous Criminal Justice Act.

The incident is alleged to have taken place on the 10th December 1994, at the Drayton meet of the Fernie Foxhounds. The policing on this particular day was even more biased than usual, and complaints were made both about this, and about an alleged assault on Mr. Spencer by a hunt supporter. A less than satisfactory reply was received from the Home Office, and one day after receiving this Mr. Spencer received the court summons!

This is clear evidence, as if any was needed, of how parliament and the legal system are way behind public opinion. On the 3rd March there will be a reading of the Wild Mammals (protection) Bill, which if passed, would outlaw hunting with hounds. We have to wait and see whether parliament will at last represent the wishes of the people, or whether we will witness yet another fiasco to rival the appalling way that the Bill to outlaw the export of veal calves was talked out of parliament.

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