Warwickshire Hunt supporter killed when gyrocopter blades hit his head court told
A gyrocopter pilot drove towards a Warwickshire Hunt supporter who was trying to stop him from taking off, cleaving his head "from top to bottom" with a propeller blade, a court has been told.
Bryan Griffiths, 55, of Bedworth, Warwickshire, is charged with the manslaughter by gross negligence of Warwickshire Hunt member Trevor Morse at Long Marston airfield, near Stratford-upon-Avon, on March 9 last year.
Birmingham Crown Court heard that 48-year-old Mr Morse had been trying to stop Mr Griffiths, who had been monitoring the hunt from his gyrocopter, from taking off again after he stopped to refuel.
He refused to move out of the way as Mr Griffiths went towards him and the rear propeller of the gyrocopter cut Mr Morse's head from top to bottom, the court heard.
Prosecutor Gareth Evans QC told the court: "[Mr Morse] was killed when his head was struck by the rear propeller blade of the gyrocopter. That gyrocopter was being driven by this defendant along the runway of Long Marston airfield in Warwickshire.
"The blade of the rear propeller cleaved Mr Morse's head from top to bottom. Mercifully death was instantaneous."
Mr Evans said Griffiths deliberately drove the gyrocopter at Mr Morse, with the rear propeller spinning at a speed approaching 200mph. He said: "Doing so, we say, was reckless in the extreme because the manoeuvre carried with it a very, very real risk that Mr Morse would come into contact with the revolving, unguarded rear propeller blades of the gyrocopter."
The court heard Mr Morse was acting as a road monitor on March 3 last year during the last day of the hunting season for the Warwickshire Hunt.
Mr Evans said Griffiths owned the gyrocopter and although he was not an anti-hunt activist, had previously flown the machine above the hunt to monitor their actions, often with a passenger filming them.
On that day, when Mr Morse spotted the gyrocopter heading off towards Long Marston airfield to refuel, he got in a Land Rover with a fellow hunt supporter to confront the pilot.
When they were at the airfield, Mr Morse tried to stop Griffiths taking off by standing in front of the gyrocopter. He refused to move out of the way, and as Griffiths drove forwards in the gyrocopter the rear propeller caught Mr Morse, cutting his head from top to bottom.
The jury was shown an edited video of the stand-off between Mr Morse and Griffiths - caught on camera by the man who had brought the fuel to the airfield, Peter Bunce.
As he refuses to move out of the way, a voice can be heard to say to Mr Morse: "You are obstructing him taking off, you have no right to do that, you have no right to do that."
The video shows Mr Morse enlisting the help of the woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, to come and stand in the way of the gyrocopter. The propellers can be heard to speed up, followed by a bang.
