Farmer flips drunk yob’s car with tractor after he refuses to get off his land
dailystar.co.ukpolice on previous occasions.The 57-year-old appeared in court after he clashed with driver Elliott Johnson and his friend Connor Burns, 21, in Newbiggin-in-Teesdale, County Durham.He denies dangerous driving and criminal damage, claiming he acted in self-defence after he politely asked the pair to move their Vauxhall Corsa from his farm entrance.The “frightened” man told jurors he felt threatened, adding that he had been repeatedly punched and that “an Englishman’s home is his castle”.He added that there was an “influx” of youths in the area, causing anti-social behaviour – such as drug taking, littering and damaging walls.Hooper claimed that Burns had drank around six bottles of beer and told him: “I’m not effing moving this car”.The farmer added that Burns punched him twice, bursting his lip.
He told the court: “I thought: ‘It is time to get out of here, if you don’t move it, I will’”. Mobile phone footage showed Hooper using a tele-handler to lift the car from the entrance of his farm and dumping it onto the road outside his property. To stay up to date with all the latest news, make sure you sign up to one of our newsletters here.Hooper added: “I thought: ‘We have a bit of a problem here, there’s two of them, half my age,’ I didn’t know what they had in terms of weapons, or what they were capable of doing. “I thought if the car was off the property, that would be then off the property, out of the way.” Michael Rawlinson, defending, asked him why he didn’t call the police.
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