A FARMER and hunt master who kicked his ex-wife and hit her with a tool from his stables has been jailed for ten weeks
Essex Union Hunt master Simon Upton was sentenced less than a year after a previous court appearance saw him fined for assaulting an anti-hunt protester (read this story here)
Chelmsford Magistates were told he attacked ex-wife Sarah-Jane Upton, when she dropped their three children off at his home at Coptfold Hall, Margaretting. The couple had argued over access arrangements for their children, aged nine, eight and five.
Denise Holland, prosecuting, said: “She was sitting on a low stone wall when he threw his diary at her, and pushed her off the wall into a flowerbed.
“He struck her with a horse de-sweater then kicked her with both feet.”
Upton admitted common assault.
Mrs Holland said Upton’s ex-wife then went to get the children from his house but he threatened to break her car windows if she entered the home.
She added: “He picked up a bridle hook to enforce that threat.”
Hugh Roland, mitigating, said Upton, 41, was “emotionally charged” because of a row about the children’s holidays.
He added: “My client has full remorse. He knows he has let his family down, children down, the community and himself down.”
In October 2005, Upton was fined at Basildon Magistrates’ Court after admitting three counts of common assault on anti-hunt protesters near Brentwood on February 9, 2005
Hunt Details
Source: Basildon Recorder
