A farmer who destroyed a car on his land with a forklift has been cleared of charges after a jury considered a 17th-century law on the right to defend property.
Robert Hooper, 57, accepted that he wrote off a £16,000 Vauxhall Corsa by flipping it over with the spikes of his tractor before pushing it off his land. Video of the clash was viewed by millions on social media.
However, Hooper told a court that “an Englishman’s home is his castle” and that his action was justified as he had been attacked by a “strutting and agitated” shirtless youth who had spent the day drinking lager at a nearby beauty spot.
