Despite a lot of things that were said during this trial, two main things that don't sit quite right with me are;
1. Despite feeling threatened, why did he carry on with the taxi/take off when he recognised that there was risk to life?
2. If it really was because he felt threatened, and also remember that he said he felt ' extremely agitated', (equivelant to road rage to mortals);
Good points! I don't believe he DID feel so threatened that he needed to 'get away' - whatever the consequences. He had John Curtin in the cockpit with him, who is no stranger to violence, being one of the founders of the so-called Hunt Retribution Squad which planted incendiary devices under hunt members cars, sent letters out booby-trapped with razor blades in the envelope fold - and a lot more! And Peter Bunce on the ground. Mr. Morse was one man, with a female friend!
The most telling thing was the verbal reaction to the death of Mr. Morse - recorded on video. " “Oh dear. The t*** didn’t stand clear of it. I just . . .” (I would have liked to have known what followed the 'I just...' - but there was clearly no remorse or concern.)
Claiming a 'fear of violence' from hunt supporters was no doubt a successful tactic in this case. And - of course - there was the nonsense about the alleged shooting at the gyrocopter! It all added up to the jury believing he acted out of fear.
But it's over now - one might hope the CAA might see things a bit differently and take action against the pilot. One might hope that the pilot will have learned a lesson and stay away from so-called 'hunt monitoring' in the future. All I can hope is that it is the last tragic and unnecessary death related to the ongoing disputes about hunting.