Grafton trial sealed with a kiss

Mick Wills, huntsman of the Grafton hunt, was cleared of a Hunting Act charge in Northampton Magistrates' Court on Wednesday. In a bizarre development the prosecution independent expert witness was excluded from giving evidence after greeting a witness with a kiss. This would have been more surprising if that expert witness had not been Professor Stephen Harris.

One of the enduring certainties of the anti-hunting movement is that Professor Harris will be rolled out to give views on any matter, however vaguely connected to his academic expertise, and that his opinion will come down firmly against hunting.

Like a less substantial 'Forrest Gump' Professor Harris appears by accident at many of the defining moments of the hunting debate. In 1997 he just happened to sit between Michael Foster and the other MPs who sponsored his Private Members Bill to ban hunting at its launch. The next year he was pictured clapping Mr Foster as he waved a stuffed fox in the air outside Parliament when his Bill achieved a majority in the House of Commons. When questioned about this under oath Professor Harris claimed that he was just passing and clapped to be polite.

In another series of extraordinary coincidences, the League Against Cruel Sports (LACS) sponsored his academic papers, published a book of his and invited him to speak at campaign events over decades despite the fact that he was an entirely neutral academic. Unfortunately, when appearing as an 'independent expert witness' for the prosecution in a LACS private prosecution in 2015 he forgot all about this, and the long personal relationship he had with LACS employees who were appearing as witnesses in the case. His forgetfulness caused the trial to collapse and lead to a series of articles including a leader in The Times questioning his role.

Whilst it is in some way laughable that Professor Harris can still promote himself as independent or neutral about hunting his actions can still have serious consequences. For instance, we are very concerned to learn that the Crown Prosecution Service sought Professor Harris' opinion on the Grafton case before Mick Wills was charged. At the time Mr Wills' lawyers had no way of knowing that Professor Harris' opinion was being sought, and therefore no way of challenging either his expertise or his independence, both of which are in very short supply. It might well be that the decision to charge Mr Wills was based on the opinion of someone who is quite clearly biased and was subsequently excluded from the trial for just that reason.

The decision to charge Mr Wills has put him through the tortuous and unpleasant process of prosecution, as well as costing tens of thousands of pounds in legal and court costs. Giving Professor Harris any role in such a decision is clearly unacceptable, as is the CPS's continued use of him as an 'independent' expert witness. I will be writing to the Attorney General to ask how this could be allowed to happen.

Follow me at @CA_TimB