Airport owner drags man by the hair after row erupts over birds’ nests
An airport owner was caught on camera dragging a councillor by his hair during a row over felling trees with birds’ nests.
Chris Makin, 65, ended up in court and was fined £8,000 yesterday after assaulting Andrew Mason in the village of Church Fenton in North Yorkshire, last year.
Harrogate Magistrates’ Court heard Mr Mason feared he would be run over by a cherry picker and killed during the attack.
The councillor had been walking to the village shop where he volunteered on April 4 last year, when he spotted Makin and some contractors working on trees on the boundary of Leeds East Airport.
Mr Mason told Makin, who owns the airport, that he did not have consent to fell the trees or close the road, and then ‘protested’ by positioning himself in front of a cherry picker.
The court heard that he was then attacked by Makin, who dragged him across the road by his hair and belt.
Makin also put him in a headlock and broke his glasses during the ‘persistent’ assault, as onlookers filmed the incident on their phones.
In one video, the businessman can be heard ordering the cherry picker operator to ‘move it forwards’, which, Mr Mason said, left him fearing for his life.
The court heard that the workmen did not get involved in the altercation.
Mr Mason, who chairs the local parish council, said the two men only knew each other ‘vaguely’ before the incident but said that Makin was ‘out of control’.
He also said his clothes were torn and he suffered muscle damage following the incident.
In a victim impact statement, Andrew added: ‘This was a deep injustice that took place in a village that I love. I feared further brutalisation.’
Makin has owned the former RAF Church Fenton base since around 2016.
The court was told he was under the impression he had ‘lawful justification’ for crowning the trees under his responsibility to ‘make the airport a safe environment’.
Earlier in the day, police had visited the scene and told him to stop and get permission, but he carried on with the felling regardless, magistrates heard.
Makin said he did this because of Civil Aviation Authority regulations ahead of a vintage airshow the site was hosting.
His defence counsel said his client had only closed the road because it was a ‘windy’ day and added that the birds’ nests were all empty.
He said Makin was ‘not a thug’, but a man ‘used to getting jobs done and got a job done, but went about it in the wrong way’.
Makin, from the village of Micklefield east of Leeds, has no previous convictions, and the bench decided against imposing a community order or unpaid work.
They said it would serve ‘no rehabilitative purpose’ and 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 Andrew after finding him guilty of assault by beating.
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.’
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