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Former amateur whipper-in pushed hunt monitor into ditch


  • A former amateur whipper-in faces a jail sentence after being found guilty of using his horse to push a League Against Cruel Sports (LACS) hunt monitor into a ditch three times.

    Christopher Marles, 48, of Farringdon, near Exeter, appeared at Honiton Magistrates Court on Wednesday (11 February).

    Marles, who was whipping-in for the East Devon hunt when the incident took place in March 2008, admitted common assault on Helen Weeks, 61, of West Coker.

    But a hearing was held to deduce whether his actions were intentional and magistrate Elizabeth Hibbick decided they were.

    The court was told that in October 2006 Marles received a nine month sentence, suspended for two years, for causing actual bodily harm to another hunt monitor, 58-year-old Kevin Hill.

    Mr Hill was left with two black eyes and needed six stiches after being punched by Marles while filming the Devon and Somerset Staghounds.

    East Devon joint-master Michael Moore said Marles was no longer whipping-in for the hunt.

    He will be sentenced next month.

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