Elaine Barnett

Affiliation: Welsh Border Hunt Saboteurs (formerly Three Counties Hunt Saboteurs) 

Location: Herefordshire

Every saboteur group has its star performer: the one who never misses a meet, never runs out of opinions, and never lets inconvenient details get in the way of a good story. Part of the Welsh Border Hunt Saboteurs, that honour falls to Elaine Barnett. A redoubtable sab who has spent years harassing strangers, disturbing wildlife, but most remarkably, accusing other people of assault with a perfectly straight face. If the Oscars ran a category for brass neck, Barnett would have cleared a shelf by now. 

The Redvers Affair

On 27 January 2024, Barnett accosted the Ledbury Hunt’s huntmaster, David Redvers. The huntsman was defending a private path and the lawful progress of the trail hunt. As he attempted to peacefully escort her to the footpath, Barnett protested and threatened to grab his groin. To his surprise, Redvers then overheard her telling a colleague that she planned to call 999 and accuse him of assault, despite Barnett herself threatening and harassing him throughout the confrontation.

The "evidence" subsequently circulated online to support her claim was, curiously, a handful of still images. The actual video never surfaced. In a movement that films everything, the sudden dependence on carefully selected footage is usually a sign that the moving footage tells a rather different story. 

Not her first rodeo

Barnett has a pattern of bringing serious assault allegations that don’t survive scrutiny.  During a trail hunting meet in February 2016, Ledbury Hunt member Mark Melladay was accused of assault by battery by Barnett. Cheltenham Magistrate’s Court heard Barnett had allegedly been trying to distract the hounds by whipping the road during a legal trail hunt. Her reckless actions no doubt endangered the hounds, despite her professed love for animals. 

Mr Melladay, who was filmed riding his horse in Barnett’s direction, naturally followed his distracted hounds through a break in the hedgerow and into a thicket. The court ruled there was no evidence of any contact and, thus, no evidence of assault of any kind. 

Following a similar episode a few months earlier, in which huntsman Peter Doggrell was swiftly cleared of maliciously inflicting bodily harm, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) came under criticism for appearing overly eager to pursue cases championed by animal rights activists. According to The Times, police reviewing the footage in both incidents initially decided to take no further action, only for prosecutions to be brought later after the videos were reconsidered under the victims’ right to review process.

Tim Bonner, chief executive of the Countryside Alliance, accused the CPS of "bending to mob rule", warning that charging decisions were increasingly being driven by who could shout the loudest rather than by the strength of the evidence provided by the complainant. It is clear that Melladay should never have been in court in the first place.

The most damning verdict, however, came not from the Bench but from the very saboteur who had filmed the alleged incident - Emma Phipps of the Three Counties Hunt Saboteurs. Phipps told The Times she had been "surprised" Melladay was charged with such a serious offence, and that if she had had any say in the matter, there was "no way" they would have pushed for assault by battery. 

When your own camerawoman publicly distances herself from the charge being brought in your name, it is usually a sign the evidential wheels have come off.

Compassion for Some, Not for Others

Barnett’s Facebook page is filled with affectionate posts about her own dogs and horses, presenting herself as a committed animal lover. Yet her behaviour in the field tells a different story. In the winter of 2023, she was caught thrashing a whip at the Cotswold Vale Farmers’ Hunt hounds during a confrontation with the hunt.

The Clown Car Rolls Up

Barnett rarely operates alone. Together with her partner-in-chaos, Gina Doyle, she has become a sort roaming countryside roadshow - though not one anyone’s queuing to see. On 26 October 2024, their typical look involved turning up an hour and a half late, photographing random strangers sitting in fields, and eventually being ejected from a farm after allegedly threatening the owner. 

Barnett also associates herself with the notable character of Jenny MacRae. A prominent “animal-loving” activist, this sab happily crosses any boundary when it comes to disrupting lawful hunts. On 12 February 2024, a small child, no older than 12, attempted to stop MacRae filming on private land but was pushed away by the sab. Her professed regard for legal trail hunts evidently does not extend to the safety of the children watching them.

Manners Maketh Woman

Barnett styles herself as a moral arbiter of the British countryside, but the manner she brings to the role is rather less elevated than the cause. On 20 October 2024, in the course of a single afternoon at the Cotswold Vale Farmers' Hunt's opening meet, she reportedly offered to don a fox costume and be sprayed with fox urine, then turned her attention to a woman in the crowd, calling her "fat" and passing comment on her thighs. The activism, on closer inspection, looks an excuse to be cruel in public.

The Sab Who Cried Huntsman

Strip away the fox costumes, the late arrivals and the selective stills, and what remains is a woman whose public identity has been built on accusing others of the very conduct she herself stands accused of. The Redvers affair and Melladay incident sit alongside a well-documented pattern of harassment and farm ejections across the autumn of 2024 alone. It is a routine that wastes police time, distresses the people on the receiving end, and cheapens every genuine accusation of assault brought by every genuine victim.