Extremist targets badger cull marksman... so police take away the victim’s job
POLICE have banned a marksman from shooting badgers as part of a Government cull – because he was confronted by a notorious animal rights extremist.
The decision means the farm worker – who wants to remain anonymous – will lose £5,000 in earnings.
Critics say it is the latest stand-down by the authorities over the cull, which is designed to control bovine TB.
In May, the Caffè Nero coffee chain caved in to threats, introducing a nationwide ban on the sale of milk from farms in cull areas.
The marksman had been checking badger traps in Forthampton, Gloucestershire, last Sunday night when David Blenkinsop, who has been jailed for planting bombs and a violent attack, came towards him. The cull contractor, who has two children, said Blenkinsop called out his name. The marksman said: ‘He said, “I know who you are.” It was threatening, but I stayed calm and told him he’d got the wrong bloke. He said he wanted information about others involved in the cull.’
Blenkinsop had aroused suspicion the previous day in Forthampton. The marksman said he was shocked to learn that his licence had been suspended for ‘my own safety’. He added: ‘I’ve done nothing wrong.’
In December 2002, Blenkinsop was sentenced to five-and-a-half years for making incendiary bombs to inflict terror on workers at Mutchmeats abattoir in Oxfordshire, and Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS). At the time of the sentencing, he was already serving a four-and-a-half year term for a baseball attack on HLS boss Brian Cass.
A Gloucestershire Police spokesman said: ‘The decision was made in the interests of everyone’s safety.’