A HUNT saboteur from Bolton has lost his claims for damages against Cheshire Police for wrongful imprisonment.

Following legal submissions at Liverpool County Court, a judge ruled that the arrests of Edmund Shepherd on successive days in February, 1997 were lawful.

And a jury of four women and three men was satisfied that on each occasion the arresting officer had told Mr Shepherd, 29, who now lives in Surrey, that he was being arrested to prevent a breach of the peace.

Mr Shepherd formerly of Woodstock Drive, Bolton, claimed he was never told properly why he was being arrested, and that police acted in an oppressive way with flagrant disregard to his right to be free.

His nine day trial was a test case but in the light of Judge John Phipps's ruling it is now thought that up to 60 other protesters arrested in the same weekend will be unlikely to formally bring actions that could have totalled hundreds of thousands of pounds against Cheshire Police.

Mr Shepherd, who is unemployed and was legally aided in his action, refused to comment after the case.