A judge has officially cleared Otis Ferry of charges of perverting the course of justice, but the 26-year-old master and huntsman of the South Shropshire still faces trial for robbery and assault.
H&H reported last month that the two “witness nobbling” charges, which put Mr Ferry behind bars for four months, were to be discontinued (news, 12 March).
And on 1 May Judge Martin Picton found Mr Ferry not guilty of both charges.
Mr Ferry told H&H: “The prosecution has spent close to £1million on this case so far, including putting me in jail, so the judge has told them to think very carefully about the charges I am still facing.”
Mr Ferry’s barrister Geoffrey Cox QC has asked for a day of legal argument to take place before the judge. That is scheduled for 22 May.
Mr Ferry, of Eaton Mascott, Shropshire, and his co-accused John Deutsch, 55, of Chipping Campden, are due to be tried on 28 September at Gloucester.
They both deny robbing hunt monitor Helen Ghalmi of a camera and assaulting her during a day’s hunting with the Heythrop in November 2007.
