A BOLTON man is sueing Cheshire Police for damages over his arrest at an anti-hunt protest demonstration.

Edmund Shepherd is claiming that he was wrongfully imprisoned and his rights ignored when he was arrested at the home of the Master of the Cheshire Beagle Hunt, near Delamere, in February 1997.

Shepherd, aged 29, formerly of Woodstock Drive, Bolton, -- who now lives in Surrey -- claims he was never told properly why he was being arrested and accuses the police of acting in an oppressive way with flagrant disregard to his rights.

He is also claiming aggravated damages relating to the conditions in which he was kept for hours in a police van with others in the car park of Crewe police station, and later in the cells.

He is also claiming exemplary damages designed to send out a punitive message to the police.

The police claim Shepherd and others were told they were being arrested to prevent a breach of the peace.

The master of the Cheshire Beagle Hunt, George Murray, told Liverpool County Court yesterday that he felt threatened by anti-hunt protesters on his driveway and the police presence had prevented violence.

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