Hunt saboteur's compensation payment donated to support hunt

A hunt steward has donated the victims' compensation he recently received from a hunt saboteur to the Cottesmore Hunt.

Farmer Gwilym Owen, who volunteers as a hunt steward, was assaulted by Agnieszka Grabowicz - who is associated with the Northamptonshire and Hertfordshire saboteur groups - while she was trying to disrupt the hunt's lawful trail hunting activities.

The shocking incident where Ms Grabowicz was captured on video spitting directly at Mr Owen, resulted in her receiving a police caution, having to pay the victim £50 compensation and the animal rights extremist was also banned from following hunts in Leicestershire and Lincolnshire for 12 weeks.

Grabowicz, 45, who is a 'creative designer' from North London, was videoed hurling abuse at the hunt stewards prior to the assault while trespassing on private land. The hunt stewards can be seen calmly asking Grabowicz and other saboteurs to leave the private land and return to the public footpath, before she violently hits back.

The shocking incident however, has done nothing to deter followers of the Cottesmore Hunt. All proceeds received from the compensation payment, which have now been paid to the victim, will be invested back into the hunt.

"As a puppy walker and passionate supporter of the Cottesmore, I wanted to turn this unpleasant experience into a positive for the hunt by donating the payment towards hunt funds which have been particularly hard-hit during the coronavirus outbreak," explained Gwilym. "The hunt is constantly targeted by these extremists and it seemed only right that they should compensate the hunt in a small way for constantly harassing their supporters."

Polly Portwin, Head of Hunting for the Countryside Alliance said: "This was an abhorrent incident conducted by an animal rights extremist who was clearly trying to provoke a response from the hunt stewards but they continued to act with integrity throughout this ordeal despite this provocation. Hunt saboteurs often behave incredibly violently and it is right, in this case, that the culprit has been brought to justice."

Although the incident happened in November 2019, and the police caution was issued in January 2020, the payment wasn't received by Mr Owen until June 2020.

View the shocking video footage, by following this link to our YouTube channel.