"You always hurt, the one you love..."

Brian Butcher (described as a 'frustrated newt expert') was most upset by Natural England's work on neighbouring land to tear down hedgerows and fill in holes. You see, newts may be there. Great Crested newts. A protected species.

Brian knew they might be there because the pond on his land was full of them. So he wrote letters. But they were ignored. For four and a half years, he battled to get the organisation to halt it's work.

So it was time to step up to direct action and hold a press conference chain himself to Natural England's railings fish some newts out of his pond, hit them over the head with a hammer, and post the bodies to the organisation.

...

Wait, what?

The bench was told the package was a "payback" for the public body's perceived lack of action against the work being carried out on Butcher's neighbouring land.

I can see now why he's a frustrated newt expert...


H/T to 'APiLN', the place to go for all your barmy local news requirements.