Owner of Leeds East Airport 'manhandled' parish council chairman in row over illegal tree felling in Yorkshire village

Victim Andrew Mason, 63, was walking to the village shop in Church Fenton, near Tadcaster, for a volunteering shift last April when he came across Chris Makin, 65, and a number of contractors working on trees down at the boundary of the private airfield, a court heard today.

Mr Mason expressed concern that there were birds nesting in the trees and that Makin did not have consent to either fell them or close the road, and ‘protested’ by positioning himself in front of a cherrypicker.

However, he was then attacked by Makin, who dragged him across the road by his hair and belt, threw him to the ground, put him in a headlock and broke his glasses during a ‘persistent’ assault in front of shocked onlookers who filmed the incident on their mobile phones.

Makin was even heard to order the cherrypicker operator to ‘move it forwards’ and Mr Mason feared he could have been killed by the machinery. The workmen did not get involved in the altercation.

Makin was found guilty of assault by beating at trial and returned to Harrogate Magistrates Court on Thursday for sentencing, represented by a top KC.

The businessman has owned the former RAF Church Fenton base since around 2016, and the court was told he believed he had ‘lawful justification’ for crowning the trees under his responsibility to ‘make the airport a safe environment’. However, he continued to carry out the work that day even after police had visited the scene and advised him to stop and obtain permission. He said he had been doing so because of Civil Aviation Authority regulations ahead of a vintage airshow the site was hosting.

Mr Mason, who chairs the parish council, said the two men only knew each other ‘vaguely’ before the incident but that Makin was ‘out of control’. His clothes were torn and he suffered muscle damage.

In a victim impact statement, he said: “This was a deep injustice that took place in a village that I love. I feared further brutalisation.”

Makin’s defence counsel said his client had only closed the road because it was a ‘windy’ day and that the birds’ nests were all empty. He said Makin was ‘not a thug’ and he was a man who ‘is used to getting jobs done and got a job done, but went about it in the wrong way.’

Makin, of Micklefield, has no previous convictions, and the bench decided against imposing a community order or unpaid work after hearing it would serve ‘no rehabilitative purpose’ and deeming that he had ‘learned a lesson’ by the loss of his good reputation. Instead. he was told to pay over £8,000 in fines, costs and compensation to Mr Mason.

Speaking outside the court, Mr Mason said: “Justice has been done. Civil society broke down that day. Makin is now a convicted criminal and he has lost his good name.”