‘Bully’ businessman assaults parish council chairman in row over bird nests

A parish council chairman was poked in the face and pulled to the ground by an “out of control” businessman during a dispute about bird nests in a quiet village, a court has heard. Magistrates were shown mobile phone footage of an incident in the North Yorkshire village of Church Fenton in which Andrew Mason, 63, a resident and parish council chairman, can be seen in front of a tree-cutting cherry picker as Chris Makin, 65, tries to drag him by his clothes and hair. Prosecutors at Harrogate magistrates’ court on Thursday described how, before the footage begins, Makin had poked Mr Mason in the face, knocking off his glasses, and then “thrown him to the floor in a kind of headlock”. Michael Smith, prosecuting, said: “The defendant scooped Mr Mason’s hair into his hands and tried to pull him across the road by his hair.” #councillor #attack #birds Read more here: Su