It’s a mucky affair
A farmer, fed up with what he describes as the “severely flawed judicial system”, has fired tons of soil across the front of a court building.
Charles Hirons is reported to have approached the front steps of Derby Crown Court at around 7am yesterday morning. Using a muck spreader attached to his red tractor, Hirons — who is a local landowner — then began spraying muck across the court’s front steps.
A sign inside his tractor cab (pictured below) revealed that the protest was in relation to “the severely flawed judicial system that has consistantly [sic] failed to listen to simple truth & reason”. Apologising for any “inconvenience” caused to the general public, he urged presumably baffled onlookers to visit the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s (SRA) website and search “Walter, Scott & A.J. Ross intervention”.
Local reports say that Hirons was left tens of thousands of pounds out of pocket following the SRA’s forced closure of Walter Scott and Ross, a local law firm, back in 2009. According to the SRA, the firm was shut down due to serious financial irregularities and all subsequent claims have been settled.
Speaking to Burton Mail about yesterday’s incident, Hirons said he had bought the muck spreader last week because he knew if he borrowed one it would be seized immediately after his protest.
In full knowledge that he would be arrested straight away for his actions, Hirons told the local news site he taped off the area he was going to spray because his “first thought was people’s safety”. He continued:
People are being let down in this country. People are being ignored; people who are the backbone of the city. I was the working man making myself heard. The legal system is failing miserably. The justice system has constantly let me down. I have been fighting a war against them for years.
The 49-year-old farmer was arrested on suspicion of criminal damage and later released on bail. Hirons is reportedly upset his bail conditions have barred him from entering Morledge, Derby, because that’s where his favourite kebab shop is.
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