Hunt master caught making lewd remarks to protester

A JUDGE has criticised a “boorish” huntsman, after he was caught on camera telling a female protester: “I’d quite like to s--- you actually.”

Charles Carter was forced to resign as a Conservative councillor after making the “offensive and distasteful” comments to Linda Hoggard, 41, when she objected to his hounds chasing foxes.

However, Mr Carter, 34, master of Middleton Hunt in North Yorkshire, was cleared, along with his whipper-in Colin Milburn, 59, of illegally hunting foxes at a trial at York magistrates’ court.

Judge Adrian Lower found there was no case to answer because the prosecution had been unable to prove that either man had intentionally caused the hounds to hunt down two foxes on Jan 23 this year on land at Squirrel Hall Farm near Kirby Grindalythe, North Yorkshire.

But the judge was critical of the way Mr Carter had conducted himself towards Mrs Hoggard, a mother of three who lives close to where the hunt was taking place.

The court was played a video of Carter, wearing his red hunting tunic, peering down from his mount at Mrs Hoggard and pointing a mobile phone at her as he said: “What is your name? I would quite like to s--- you actually,” before adding: “Can I take you to bed?” and “You are very pretty”.

Judge Lower said: “The comments made by Mr Carter do him no credit.

“They were boorish, offensive, distasteful and I imagine they caused a degree of upset. However, I must put that to one side.”

Mr Carter was initially charged with causing harassment, alarm or distress to Mrs Hoggard but the charge was discontinued in a previous hearing.

He and Mr Milburn faced two charges of illegally hunting foxes. To have contravened the Hunting Act 2004 the huntsmen would have needed to intentionally be hunting the foxes and Judge Lower said there was nothing in the prosecution case that suggested they had set the hounds on the fox.

Judge Lower said: “It is not the dogs who are on trial, they never will be.”

Mr Carter resigned from his post as Conservative councillor with Breckland Council in Norfolk after Mrs Hoggard’s video of their exchange went viral online.