Essex hunt to pay 'substantial damages' after evicting tenant farmer

The Court of Appeal has said an Essex hunt has to pay 'substantial damages' and legal costs for evicting a farmer from land near Burnham-on-Crouch.

Terence Grimes was one of the hunt's tenants but they wanted higher rent and decided to grant the lease to the land to somebody else in 2012.

Mr Grimes took legal action and recently triumphed at the Court of Appeal.

Senior judges said his claim to the tenancy had not been validly terminated and he was 'wrongfully dispossessed' of the land.

The Trustees of the Essex Farmers and Union Hunt were ordered to pay Mr Grimes £31,500 in damages and £100,000 towards his lawyers' bills.

Lord Justice Henderson ruled that Mr Grimes had never been validly served with any notice to leave the land because the notice was sent to the wrong address.

The judge, sitting with Lord Justice Beatson and Lady Justice Macur, allowed an appeal against an earlier ruling in the trustees' favour.

He concluded: "It follows that the notice to quit was not validly served on him...and his tenancy was not validly terminated."

The Conservative party want to allow a free vote on whether to reverse Tony Blair's ban on fox hunting back in 2004. Labour and the Liberal Democrats want to keep it banned.