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CHARLES CARTER: Police issue notorious hunter second Community Resolution Order

Huntsman for the Royal Artillery Hunt in the firing line yet again

ELIZA EGRET

SEP 3

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Wiltshire Police has issued Charles Carter, huntsman for the Royal Artillery Hunt (RAH), with a Community Resolution Order (CRO). The CRO is his second in 18 months, and was given to him after he assaulted a female hunt saboteur.

The incident took place in February 2024. Salisbury Plain Hunt Saboteurs gave a detailed account of the day. The sabs wrote:

"famously pompous Charles Carter lost the plot. Eerily, but somewhat predictably, the creepy sex pest started riding his horse into and repeatedly whipping a female sab."

When calling Carter a "sex pest", the sabs are likely referring to his appearance in court in 2017, after he was filmed making comments to a female hunt saboteur such as "I'd quite like to shag you..." A Tory councillor at the time, Carter was forced to resign from his position.

Salisbury Plain Hunt Saboteurs continued, saying:

"[Carter was] screaming "get away from me" like a deranged dervish. He was so out of control that Beverly Martin, who usually baits sabs, got her horse in front of the female sab being viciously assaulted. This was appreciated as Carter, the unstoppable misogynist, had completely lost the plot by this point. The sab was extremely lucky not to have been seriously harmed as the behaviour was dangerous and he clearly meant to harm her."

Sabs took video footage of the incident, which you can view here.

Renowned for intimidation

Carter is renowned for losing his temper, and was issued with his first CROfor ripping the bumper off a monitor’s car in November 2022. Immediately following this incident, he was also filmed running down two saboteurs with his car in December 2022. A video shows Carter deliberately turning his vehicle around to drive into the sabs. One person can be seen laying on the ground as Carter drives away. The police took no action against him for this incident.

A hunt saboteur told Protect the Wild at the time:

“He absolutely lost his temper, shouting ‘what the hell are you doing there?’ – I’m not going to use the exact terms he was using – and quite quickly caught up with us. He then forced his whip that he uses to control the hounds with, the handle, into my friend’s face.”

The sab continued:

“He drove past us once or twice and then went up onto the grass, did a U-turn… I went to get my hand-held camera out, and he was sat right behind us, slowly revving the engine, not excessive, and then just drove straight towards us. By the time I had chance to do anything, he basically smacked me into the side, knocked me to the ground.”

Then in March 2023 Carter and RAH whipper-in Guy Loader were both issued official warnings by the Ministry of Defence (MOD) Police. The men violated a bye-law when they didn't keep their hounds under control while hunting on 22 October 2022. That time, Salisbury Plain Monitors filmed Carter taking no action as the RAH hounds chased deer across a field.

Carter isn't the only RAH hunter who has been cautioned by the police for intimidation and violence. Protect the Wild has previously written about others who have been warned by the police here.

End Hunting on MOD land

This latest warning against Carter should be a wake-up call to the MOD. The Defence Infrastructure Organisation - the arm of the MOD which grants licences to hunt on Defence land - has not listened to years of calls from animal welfare campaigners, urging it to ban hunting. Most major landowners, such as the National Trust, have already banned trail huntingon their land. Under the Tories, the MOD refused to ban the bloodsport, despite ample evidence showing that chases and kills were taking place on Salisbury Plain.

Even with a new anti-hunting Labour Defence Secretary, John Healey, the MOD hasn't budged, and licences are still being granted to hunts such as the RAH. We urge Healey to look at the ample evidence showing that illegal hunting is taking place on MOD land and take urgent action to ban hunts. Add your name to the petition and open letter to the Defence Secretary here.