Gun Culture

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Nutter takes loaded gun from the hands of a bunny hunter

Crikey!
From the local rag:

A MAN has gone on trial accused of breaking firearms laws by grabbing a high powered rifle from three men shooting foxes near his home.

Jason Hoyle, 41, was accused of possessing the bolt action rifle without a licence after he took it from the men during a midnight row last September.

He claims he was entitled to take the gun because he was afraid that he could have been hurt by the men shooting on land near his home at Mallerstang near Kirkby Stephen.

But the prosecution at Carlisle Crown Court say he had no right to behave as he did because the man in charge of the gun did have a licence and was allowed to shoot there.

Hoyle, of Carr House, Mallerstang, has pleaded not guilty to possessing the rifle and ammunition and affray.

In evidence yesterday farmer’s son Richard Halliday, 21, a former gamekeeper with a diploma in game and wildlife management, said he and his younger brother Anthony and Slovakian farm worker David Cernak were shooting rabbits and foxes when the door of their Land Rover Discovery was suddenly opened and Hoyle reached in and grabbed the loaded rifle.

Mr Halliday said Hoyle started kicking the Discovery and pointing the gun inside it.

He also reached into the car and grabbed his mobile, the court was told.

Mr Halliday said. “I felt very threatened.”

Prosecuting counsel David Murphy said Hoyle claimed the “defence of necessity”, saying he had no choice but to take the gun from the men for his own safety

“But the fact that he may have been annoyed by these three young lads does not give him the right to take the weapon from them, to kick the vehicle they were in or to prevent them from calling the police,” he said.

The trial continues.