Hunt saboteur SPITS at woman & vows to 'p*** on the graves of riders' (2023)

This is the moment a self-declared 'crazy animal lover' saboteur spat on a farmer at the annual Boxing Day hunts.

Teresa Underwood was arrested at theFitzwilliam Hunt's Boxing Day meet in Cambridgeshire on December 26 last year after she spat on 58-year-old Caroline Hall's face.

Video obtained exclusively by MailOnline shows Underwood, 46, scream at passing riders: 'I wonder which one might fall off and break their neck? I'll p*** on their grave.'

She then lunges at Ms Hall and is heard hawking at the farmer, before she is grabbed by police and carried away.

Underwood pleaded guilty toassault by beating last weekand received a 12 month conditional discharge. She has been ordered to pay compensation, court costs and an additional surcharge.

Ms Hall said she was out 'enjoying a wonderful day' when Underwood launched her foul-mouthed attack.

The 58-year-old, who is avolunteer puppy walker for the Fitzwilliam hunt, told MailOnline she was near a group of children when the incident occurred.

The youngsters werehuddled around a group of playful hounds when Underwood stormed over and started shouting at them, Ms Hall alleged.

Underwood reportedly told the youngsters that the hunt did not care for the dogs and left them 'visibly terrified' by her 'hostile and feral-like behaviour'.

Ms Hall said she intervened and told the kids that the dogs were 'considered part of hunt family.' She also explained that they were both well-cared for and loved.

Underwood is said to have become 'increasingly enraged' by the encounter and reportedly yelled at nearby riders: 'I hope you fall off your horses and break your neck.'

The animal rights activist then launched screamed and spit at Ms Hall. Police officers immediately grabbed Underwood and took her over to the pavement where she was subsequently handcuffed and arrested.

She was charged with assault by beating which she admitted at Peterborough Magistrates' Court on January 25.

She was sentenced to a 12-month conditional discharge and ordered to pay £25 compensation to the victim, as well as £145 in court costs and a £26 victim surcharge.

'Being spat on felt incredibly degrading, but my main concern was for the welfare of the young children who didn't understand who this woman was and why she was screaming at them so aggressively,' Ms Hall said.

'I was worried the woman could have had a knife and cause me or others further harm. Thankfully the police did step in and handled the appalling incident quickly enough.'

Ms Hall said she was 'pleased' that Underwood has been convicted, but added: 'I do worry about the increasingly violent actions of animal-rights activists towards other rural people.'

Polly Portwin, Director of Hunting at the Countryside Alliance, branded the attack as 'appalling' and said it serves as a reminder that authorities 'must take the threat of violence by hunt saboteurs incredibly seriously and crack down on their activity.'

'It cannot ever be right that activists, with a malicious agenda intent on causing trouble, target good, law abiding people like this,' Ms Portwin said.

'While small in numbers, saboteurs are a serious threat to the wellbeing and livelihood of many rural people'.

Thousands gathered for Boxing Day hunts last December, which took place for the first time in two years without the restrictions that were imposed due to the pandemic.

The Countryside Alliance said more than 200 packs of hounds - including foxhounds, beagles, harriers, basset hounds, draghounds and bloodhounds - are estimated to have participated in the meets.

However, police were forced to step in as protesters and hunt followers clashed.

Demonstrators were pushing the Government strengthen hunting bans after more than 430 convictions under the Hunting Act 2004 were secured over a decade.

Figures compiled by the LabourParty showed 438 convictions - including 42 in 2021 - were secured since 2010 under the Act that banned hunting wild mammals with dogs in England and Wales.

Separately, the League Against Cruel Sports said there have been 303 reports of either suspected illegal hunting or hunt 'havoc', such as trespass, road interference and disturbing animals, over five weeks up to December 7.

The group said there were 78 reports of a fox being visibly pursued, with eight reported kills and three suspected kills in November and the first week of December.

The counties with the highest combined totals of suspected illegal hunting and hunt havoc were Dorset (39), Yorkshire (30), Somerset (22) Warwickshire (21) and Gloucestershire (19).

In Yorkshire, there were nine reports of suspected illegal hunting, and 21 incidences of hunt havoc, with groups using railways and busy roads, as well as worrying livestock.

The Countryside Alliance, which campaigns for the return of the bloodsport, at the time accused Labour of harbouring a 'pointless political vendetta against hunting' that would 'waste even more legislative time'.

The campaign group also argued that Labour continues to target registered hunts despite only8 per cent of the convictions involving official packs.

More than 92 per cent of convictions were not associated with registered hunts, acampaign spokesperson previously told MailOnline.

Fox hunting was banned in England and Wales following the introduction of the Hunting Act 2004, which came into force a year later.But drag hunting, where hounds are trained to follow an artificial scent, is permitted under the legislation.

Trail hunting was devised in the wake of the act to legally replicate the outlawed sport as closely as possible.

Under the rules, horseback riders with dogs can legally follow trails laid with scent, instead of chasing a live animal.

However, if hounds were to pick up the scent of a fox and chase it as a result of the trail, then there are no legal consequences.

The League Against Cruel Sports claims trail hunting is a cover for illegal hunting, designed to deceive the authorities and make the prosecution of illegal hunters very difficult.

Loopholes around fox hunting will be closed in Scotland this yearas the Hunting With Dogs Bill goes through its final stage.

Since 2002 it has been against the law there to hunt a wild mammal with a dog, but exceptions have been allowed in some circumstances and the Bill aims to minimise the risk of wild animals being caught.

Ministers in Westminster, however, said they have no plans to strengthen the legislation.