Foot-and-mouth protestor remanded

4 April 2001



Foot-and-mouth protestor remanded

By Robert Davies, Wales correspondent

A 27-YEAR-OLD man charged with the attempted murder of a policeman at a foot-and-mouth protest has been remanded in custody until later this month.

Stephen Morgan from Llandovery, Carmarthenshire, is due to appear before Merthyr Crown Court on 12 April after an incident at a carcass disposal site.

He is also charged with assaulting a soldier, causing grievous bodily harm, taking and driving a bulldozer dangerously, and criminal damage.

The charges relate to an incident on the early hours of Sunday (1 April) on the approach road to a burial site for animals culled under foot-and-mouth controls.

A bulldozer was driven from an area on the Eppynt military range, where a burial pit was being excavated, and through a line of police vehicles.

Policeman John Stone was trapped in a van and received leg injuries.

The police were present to manage a picket by farmers and local residents, who were trying to stop lorries entering the site.

Protests against the disposal of 50,000 culled animals are continuing About 500 people took part in a mock funeral that brought nearby traffic to a standstill.

A coffin draped with a banner saying “The Eppynt RIP” was carried on a tractor and trailer to a church at the start of the approach road to the range.

Organisers said the symbolic gesture was intended to draw attention to risks linked to moving culled animals to a disease-free area

They are also worried about seepage from the rotting carcasses into public water supplies and three nearby rivers.