Church Fenton assault: 'Out of control' airport owner fined for attacking councilman trying to stop illegal tree felling

A parish council chair trying to protect birds’ nests during illegal tree felling has told a court he feared for his life, after he was attacked by an “out of control” businessman.

North Yorkshire businessman, 65-year-old Chris Makin, was ordered to pay more than £8,000 in fines and compensation at the Harrogate Magistrates Court on Thursday (25 April), after earlier being found guilty of assault by beating. The incident took place near the former RAF Church Fenton base, NationalWorld’s sister title the Yorkshire Post reports, which Makin owned - along with Leeds East Airport.

The court heard that Church Fenton Parish Council chairman, Andrew Mason, had approached Makin and his workmen as they used a cherry picker to crown trees bordering the property. Mr Mason told him that there were birds nesting in the trees, and that the felling was illegal - as Makin did not have the proper consent to either cut them, or to close the road. Police had reportedly been at the scene earlier to advise the businessman to stop, but had left by the time he assaulted Mr Mason - in front of stunned onlookers.

Magistrates were shown cell phone footage of the attack, which took place on 4 April, 2023. The victim could be seen lying on the ground in front of a blue cherry-picker. Makin attempted to drag him away, grabbing him by his leg, belt, and hair. Several times, he urged the worker driving the cherry picker to keep driving, despite the councilman being in the way.

Mr Mason could be hear shouting “get off me” and “the police are on their way, you lunatic”. Prosecutor Michael Smith told the court that before the footage began, Makin had poked the victim in the face, knocking off his glasses, and then “thrown him to the floor in a kind of headlock”. He said the defendant used “unreasonable and unnecessary” force on Mr Mason, as he sat in front of the cherrypicker to stop it cutting any more trees.

In a victim statement read to the court, Mr Mason said that when Makin instructed his worker to keep driving, he thought “my life is in peril”, PA reports. The Church Fenton Parish Council chairman expressed dismay that he “could be viciously attacked in broad daylight in the village I love and where I have brought up my children”.

Defence lawyer, Richard Wright KC, said his client had “learned a salutary lesson”. He said Makin was “used to getting on with things and getting a job done in the public interest... He wanted to get this job done but went about it the wrong way.” The Yorkshire Post reports the court was told he believed he had “lawful justification” for crowning the trees, under his responsibility to “make the airport a safe environment” ahead of an upcoming airshow.

Speaking outside the court, Mr Mason told reporters Makin was a bully, “who wanted to do what he wanted to do regardless of anybody getting in his way”. “It was terrifying to be slumped underneath the cherry picker with a man who I believed was out of control, instructing the cherry picker operator to drive over the top of me. It’s chilling. There’s no two ways about it.

“During the trial, one of the witnesses said that he believed that he witnessed what appeared to be an attempted murder, because had that cherry picker moved forward two feet then I would have died,” he continued. “I think his behaviour was scurrilous, I think he’s a bully, and I think justice has been served. His good name no longer exists.”