Cat breeder Chris Brown told a court he heard the sound of bagpipes playing outside his house at one o'clock in the morning.

He said he considered it part of a harassment campaign by protesters trying to close down his business.

At Witney magistrates' court, Lynn Sawyer, 31, a registered midwife, of Peerless Drive, Harefield, Middlesex, denied a charge brought under Section 2 of the 1997 Protection from Harass- ment Act. Police video evidence shown to the court highlighted Miss Sawyer as a frequent visitor on demonstrations against Mr Brown's cat breeding business at Hillgrove Farm, Minster Lovell.

Insp Leonard Pettit, in charge of one of the police's Operation Stile units for the Hillgrove action, said he saw her in a small group of protesters walking towards the farm buildings around 1am on March 14. He said: "A man was carrying a ghetto blaster from which the sound of bagpipes was playing at full volume. A sergeant drew his baton and scattered them back down the drive," he said.

Mr Brown told the court: "I remember it well because earlier I had been out celebrating my birthday. It was annoying. It spoiled a very good evening.

"It's all part of the harassment we have to put up with. People coming round your house and shouting abuse at you."

The case was adjourned until December 4 when the defence case will be heard.

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