A terrierman attacked when trouble flared at a hunt may have metal plates in his face for life, it emerged today.

Dick Tonks in hospital today with the Evening Press headline on his ordeal

Middleton Hunt worker Dick Tonks, who was following the hunt on the Buttercrambe Estate, between Buttercrambe and Sand Hutton, near York, is said to have been assaulted after trying to wrestle an iron bar from one of around 30 masked saboteurs.

Mr Tonks' jaw was broken in two places and he spent three hours in an operating theatre yesterday at York District Hospital having two metal plates inserted to fuse his broken bones together.

Pins have been inserted externally and Mr Tonks, who lives near Selby, has been told he may have the plates for life.

Today Mr Tonks said: "I don't think they cared about animal welfare, they were thugs."

"They are not going to deter me from doing what I want to do. I'm going to be out there again with the hunt as soon as possible.

"You can get angry about these things but hopefully the courts will deal with the people involved."

Mr Tonks said his attackers were carrying bars and chains.

"I was worried because we had a lot of women and children with us and it only takes one horse to rear up and someone is killed.

"I just asked one man to put his iron bar away, and he came up towards me so I wrestled him to the ground to get the bar off him.

"Then two people just started kicking me on the ground and others standing around were having a swipe at me as well."

His female companion received a black eye when she attempted to stop the attackers.

A police spokesman said today a woman from the Leeds area was arrested in connection with the attack and had been bailed.

Frank Houghton-Brown, master of the Middleton Hunt, said: "This group was particularly threatening. They were swearing and they mostly had staves and one of the men was wielding a metal chain."

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