Back in December, BBC Springwatch presenter Chris Packham joined the infamous Northants Hunt Sabs to disrupt a meeting of the Cottesmore Hunt in Leicestershire.
As BTM reported at the time, Packham and stepdaughter Megan McCubbin spent the day livestreaming their outing alongside convicted bomb maker and notorious Northants sab leader, Mel Broughton.
During the livestream, Packham repeated the tired old claim that trail hunting is a “smokescreen” for the illegal killing of foxes. However, the numbers don’t lie – since 2005, just 23 convictions over 228,000 hunting days show that 99.99% of hunts follow the law. So much for BBC impartiality!
Despite being a freelancer, Packham is still bound by BBC rules on neutrality and not bringing the corporation into disrepute. Judging by his day out with the sab gang, the broadcaster doesn’t seem too worried about protecting the organisation’s reputation.
The Rogue’s Gallery:
Packham (bottom row, yellow puffer) and McCubbin (bottom row, right) had no worries about posing with some of the sab scene’s most disreputable faces: Mel Broughton, Luke Tucker, Bernadette Green, Karen Denton and Agnieszka Grabowicz.
Mel Broughton
Mel Broughton is a convicted bomb maker and animal rights activist who has been a mainstay of the sab scene for years. From 2010, Broughton spent a decade behind bars for conspiracy to commit arson after planting firebombs under buildings at Oxford’s Templeton College and Queen’s College cricket pavilion, racking up £14,000 in damages.
But he never learned his lesson. In November 2022, Broughton found himself back in prison, this time, on what he called 'trumped-up charges' linked to the MBR Beagles campaign. This campaign, launched in 2020, targeted a Cambridgeshire company involved in animal research.
With over 40 years in the sab game, Broughton is one of the movement’s old-school extremists. And despite his criminal record, he still manages to pull in high-profile allies—including BBC’s Chris Packham. Just how deep is Packham willing to wade into Broughton’s world?
Luke Tucker
Luke Tucker is another leader of the Northants Hunt sabs with a criminal past. In December 2024, Tucker received a £1,000 fine from Northampton Magistrates Court for aggravated trespass whilst disrupting the Cottesmore hunt.
The worst part is that Tucker seems to know what he is doing is wrong. Back in March 2023, huntsman Gary Thorpe caught Tucker on film admitting his group was disrupting a legal trail hunt, stating “I personally thought it was a trail back there”.
Similarly, during Packham’s December livestream, Tucker admitted that the Cottesmore had a very slim chance of actually finding a fox on such a foggy day, belying the fact that the group was again practicing legal trail hunting. Nevertheless, Tucker admitted that his true aim was to “really shut this hunt down”.
Bernadette Green
Bernadette Green is a regular fixture with the Northants Hunt Sabs, who thrives on disrupting legal activities under the banner of animal rights activism.
Green was one of the activists behind the chaos at the 223 Grand National. On 10 July 2024, Merseyside Police charged Green with “intentionally/recklessly causing a public nuisance” after she and her fellow troublemakers stormed the track and glued themselves to an obstacle at Aintree, delaying the race by 15 minutes.
The stunt saw over 100 arrests, with 20 activists—including Green—now facing charges.
Green’s ties to convicted arsonist Broughton go well beyond this outing. When Broughton returned to the sab scene after his prison stint, Green set up a GoFundMe to bankroll him after he was injured while sabbing in 2020. In her plea for donations, she described him as an “honest, kind and committed friend” – strange words for a man who was jailed in 2010 for conspiracy to commit arson.
Karen Denton
Introducing Karen Denton – longterm partner of the infamous Luke Tucker, now firmly stepping into the spotlight.
Denton has managed to keep a low profile – until now. This revealing photo suggests she is in step with her (life) partner in crime, raising questions about just how deeply she’s embedded in the sab scene.
According to reports, Tucker and Denton live together in Birmingham and welcomed a child in July 2024.
Agnieszka Grabowicz
Agnieszka Grabowicz is a notorious animal rights extremist with a history of violent and aggressive behaviour.
In November 2019, Grabowicz was accused of hurling abuse, intimidating, and even spitting in the face of farmer and hunt steward Gwylim Owen while trespassing on private land. As a result, she was cautioned by police, ordered to pay a fine and banned from sabbing in Leicestershire and Lincolnshire for 12 weeks.
Grabowicz, who lives in North London, describes herself as a “creative designer”, however her sparsely populated online commerce platforms suggest she is spending far more time sabbing than earning an honest crust.
Lie with the dogs; catch fleas
Having freely and openly associated with such dubious characters, questions are now being asked about Chris Packham’s judgement and whether the broadcaster-turned-campaigner has a future at the BBC.
Packham, however, is no stranger to controversy, regularly upsetting licence-fee payers with his highly political stunts.
In 2019, the BBC faced calls to sack Packham after his campaign group Wild Justice convinced Natural England to ban farmers from shooting pest birds on their own land. Furthermore, in 2017 he was forced to issue an apology after suggesting – without evidence – that game shooting was responsible for a downturn in the population of Lapwing.
Most recently, in October 2024, Packham was forced to pay £196,008 in damages to 70-year-old proofreader Paul Read after part of his libel case against the magazine Country Squire was thrown out by the High Court.
Behind The Masks welcomes any information about the other hunt saboteurs photographed with Chris Packham. You can get in touch at info@behindthemasks.co.uk