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A Forest of Dean pensioner wearing nothing but boxer shorts attacked his neighbours in a dispute over a field.

John Timbrell, 76, screamed “get off my land” and threatened to use a pitchfork on Roger Jones and Andrew Reed.

Timbrell, of The Stenders in Drybrook, today told Cheltenham Magistrates’ Court he was justified in striking both men with a baseball bat, as well as repeatedly pushing Mr Jones.

He argued he was merely defending the field, which is called The Prosser, from trespassers – despite admitting he does not own the deeds to the land.

The defendant denied three counts of assault, but failed to convince District Judge Joti Bopa Rai, who took no time to deliberate on her verdict – guilty of all offences.

‘I think you should recuse yourself’

Representing himself in court, Timbrell wore a green corduroy jacket, check shirt and green tie.

At the start of the trial, he told Judge Bopa Rai: “I have served an affidavit and I think you should recuse yourself.”

Asked why, he said: “In a previous hearing you said you think the Bill of Rights Act 1689 doesn’t apply in this case.”

The judge replied: “Yes, I did say that. That was to do with the ‘freemen on the land’.”

‘Freeman on the land’ is a term often used by people who say they have ‘opted out’ of the law.

Timbrell shouted “I have never used that term” and accused the judge of “having a downer” on him.

Judge Bopa Rai refused to recuse herself from the hearing.

Timbrell asked: “Would you accept that if someone serves an affidavit and it is not replied to in a certain length of time, then the affidavit becomes law?”

The judge replied: “No.”

How the first attack unfolded

Prosecutor Peter Ashby said Mr Jones was in The Prosser at 6.30pm on June 25, clearing some ferns from the entrance.

Mr Jones was helping out his neighbour Mary Trigg, whose family has owned the deeds to the field since 1954. She had been hoping to put some horses on the land.

Timbrell, who believes he has “taken possession” of the site under common law, walked onto the field from his home which is next door.

Mr Jones told the court: “I noticed John coming towards us from behind a hedge and thought, ‘Oh, here he is.’ He was just wearing a pair of boxer shorts.

“He started pushing me around and grabbing hold of me. I said, ‘If you rip this t-shirt you will be in trouble.’

“The next minute he ripped it clean off my back. He threatened to beat me if I didn’t get off the land.”

He claimed Timbrell pushed him at least six times over the next 25 minutes, though he was uninjured.

Mr Jones’ wife Nicola was also present at the time.

Footage played to the court showed Timbrell yelling at Mr Jones: “I am not touching your wife. I am touching you.”

The defendant claims this video has been “edited against me”.

The second incident

Mr Jones was accompanied by another neighbour, Mr Reed, when he returned to The Prosser on July 8.

“We went there because John had stolen the metal gate,” Mr Jones told the court. “We wanted to put a new gate in.

“I saw John coming and thought, ‘Here we go again.’ I turned my back to him.”

Mr Reed, an ex-serviceman, described Timbrell as looking “menacing” and carrying a baseball bat.

He said Timbrell swung the bat in an attempt to strike Mr Jones in the head, while his back was turned.

“If it had connected I have no doubt he would have killed Roger,” Mr Reed said.

Mr Reed lifted his arms to protect Mr Jones. Timbrell landed two “severe blows” on Mr Reed’s arms causing him to fall to the floor.

The defendant then swung the bat onto Mr Jones’ ribs. Both men were left with painful bruises.

Mr Reed claims that after these blows, Timbrell said: “Right, I’m off to get my pitchfork.”

Timbrell walked home, while the assault victims called police.

What happened when police arrived?

Sergeant Gordon Parr and two other police officers went to Timbrell’s home and saw him wearing boxer shorts on his balcony.

The officers told him he was under arrest and they entered the property.

“By the time we found our way to his balcony, he had gone, fleeing through some bushes,” Sergeant Parr said.

“About 10 minutes later we saw him walking back to us through an open field.”

Timbrell was handcuffed and taken to a police station, where he immediately admitted the assaults.

He told officers he was acting within his rights under common law.

The defendant argued he had “prescription rights” to the land because he had used it for 12 years with no objection until August 2017.

He said he had thought Mrs Trigg was dead because of the “derelict” state of her house.

Mr Ashby told the court: “She is in fact very much alive and here with us today.

“Mr Timbrell told police he believed he had more right to the land than the person with the deeds to the property.”

What warranted the baseball bat attack?

Mr Ashby asked Mr Jones: “Have you done anything to warrant being hit by a baseball bat?”

He replied: “No I haven’t, and I don’t believe I should have been.”

Timbrell prepared questions which court-appointed lawyer Caroline Williams asked Mr Jones in cross-examination.

She said: “Has Mr Timbrell explained the law of adverse possession to you?”

Mr Jones replied: “Well, he has tried to.”

Timbrell threatens to storm out

The defendant, in cross-examining Sergeant Parr, started accusing him of an “unlawful arrest”.

Judge Bopa Rai broke in to say this had “nothing to do” with the assaults and ordered Timbrell to change his line of questioning.

Timbrell said: “I’ve wasted my breath then. I give up now.

“I’m going to withdraw my jurisdiction. I’m sure you will fine me thousands.”

The judge replied: “It will be far more serious than a fine. If you want to leave I will carry on with the trial without you.

“If I find you guilty I will issue a warrant for your arrest, and you won’t just get a fine.”

On hearing this, Timbrell, who had been about to storm out of the door, turned around and took his seat.

He muttered: “They are going to put me in prison. They are corrupt. Let’s get it over with.”

Asked if he wished to continue questioning police, he said: “No point. It’s fixed.”

Laughter at Timbrell

When the time came for Timbrell to enter the witness box, he announced: “I would not like to give evidence.

“I tried to state my case and was made to look ridiculous.”

Judge Bopa Rai warned him this could lead to the inference he is hiding something.

“I have changed my mind,” Timbrell declared.

Asked why he believes the land is his, the defendant said: “I have been on that land for 12 years. No action is actionable after 12 years.

“You could argue I was squatting. I took possession by working on it and clearing the scrub.”

People in the public gallery started laughing at Timbrell’s evidence. The judge told them to stop.

The defendant added that he had put an affidavit on the land.

“You can’t put an affidavit on land,” Mr Ashby told him.

The court heard a tribunal is set to decide the ownership of the land.

‘Biased and pathetic’

Timbrell said he pushed Mr Jones around “as the law allows”.

Asked by Mr Ashby which law allows this, he replied: “I am not going into that.

"You have seen the big man. I wanted him off my property.”

He then branded Mr Ashby “biased and pathetic”.

Timbrell went on to cite a case from 1969, Vaughn vs McKenzie.

He says in this case it was ruled that a debtor is allowed to strike a trespassing bailiff over the head with a full milk bottle.

The district judge told him this case has “nothing to do” with the one at hand.

Asked if he thinks the case law gives him the right to hit people with baseball bats, he replied: “I am not answering stupid questions like that.”

'Anarchy'

Deliberating for no time at all, Judge Bopa Rai found Timbrell guilty of all charges.

She noted he admits the assaults and she found they were not justified. He was not acting “in any duty”, she said.

The judge said if people behave like Timbrell, “we will have anarchy instead of a civilised society”.

Timbrell reacted by nodding at his partner and laughing. He described the conviction as “unenforceable”.

Asked if he would object to an indefinite restraining order to stop him contacting the victims, he said: “I don’t care.”

The prosecutor said he was having difficulties finding a full list of Timbrell’s convictions.

The defendant interjected: “That’s because I voided them.”

Chuckling, the district judge replied: “It doesn’t work like that.”

District Judge Bopa Rai adjourned the sentencing to March 7 at the same court.

Speaking outside court, Timbrell said he wants to say sorry to his victims, but does not regret the assaults.

He blamed the attacks on the police for failing to protect the land he believes is his.

Mrs Trigg said: “I don’t want to give my reaction until the sentence is handed out, but I’m looking forward to reading the story in the Forest of Dean Citizen.”

Timbrell intends to appeal the conviction.