An AI-generated illustration of a telehandler beside a car overturned near a farm gate, representing the 2021 County Durham incident | ChatGPT
The incident took place on June 5, 2021, at Newbiggin-in-Teesdale. A jury cleared him after four days of trial The case went to trial at Durham Crown Court in early February 2022, and after four days of proceedings, the jury returned not-guilty verdicts on both charges on February 4. Because it had two deflated tyres, and in February 2022, a jury cleared Hooper of dangerous driving and criminal damage, the vehicle’s driver and passenger had said it could not be moved. Because he had concerns about how quickly officers would arrive, he also told the court that he had experienced eight break-ins at the farm over the years, and explained that he did not call the police.
Contemporaneous reporting from ITV News Tyne Tees described the court hearing and the footage presented to jurors, and reported that Hooper had denied both charges and had told the court he had previously asked the men to move the car.
Hooper used the phrase “an Englishman’s home is his castle” to explain his position, and said that he considered the farm entrance to be a part of his property and believed the only way to end the confrontation would be to remove the vehicle. Prosecutor David Ward told the jury that the case was not about portraying Hooper as a thug but about whether his actions amounted to dangerous driving and criminal damage. A silver Vauxhall Corsa was parked outside Brockersgill Farm in County Durham and became the centre of a criminal trial after farmer Robert Hooper used a telehandler to lift the car and push it onto its side on the road. The prosecution and defence disputed how the incident should be understood, with Hooper denying his intention to strike Burns with the telehandler’s forks. The verdict meant that Hooper was acquitted of dangerous driving and criminal damage that arose from the incident, and did not change the fact that he had used the telehandler to move the Corsa, and Burns had been struck by its lifting equipment.
Hooper was 57 at the time of the trial, and told Durham Crown Court that he had been punched twice by Burns during the confrontation, while also saying that the blows split his lip and that he felt threatened by the two younger men. Because of the car’s two deflated tyres, with the men having been in the area to visit Low Force waterfall, and the blocked access became the source of the dispute, the court heard that Johnson and Burns had stopped at the farm entrance. Because of the unusual manner in which the farmer dealt with the parked car, but the legal outcome found Hooper not guilty of the two offences with which he had been charged, the case attracted attention even beyond the courtroom.
Farmers Weekly reported that the jury cleared Hooper following more than four hours of deliberation, and also reported that Hooper had told the court that he was defending himself and his property after the confrontation.
Hooper is a fourth-generation hill farmer and said that the car blocked access to his property on a busy day on the farm, while the driver, Elliott Johnson, and passenger Charlie Burns had been visiting the area near Low Force waterfall. Hooper told the court that he had asked the men to move the vehicle, but they did not resolve the dispute, which forced him to use a yellow telehandler that was fitted with fork rails to lift the Corsa from the entrance and move it onto the road outside the property. Mobile phone footage played during the trial showed the machine lifting the car, which also showed its forks striking Burns, who was knocked to the ground.