A FARMER who was given an antisocial behaviour order (ASBO) after his pigs repeatedly broke into neighbouring fields proclaimed his innocence yesterday and put his fate in the hands of a jury.

Brian Hagan, 62, who keeps a farm in Briston, north Norfolk, pleaded not guilty to the charge of breaching the order when he appeared at King’s Lynn Magistrates’ Court and asked for the matter to be dealt with in the Crown Court.

His solicitor, Arthur Balls, said afterwards that they were also considering challenging the legality of the ASBO, which is usually used to restrain errant teenagers, because it was the wrong intervention to use in the circumstances.

He added that Mr Hagan was himself keen to prevent his animals from wandering to the field next door, where his neighbour Jacky Howe prepares her great danes for Crufts.

Mr Hagan was arrested on Tuesday after she alleged that 20 pigs had pushed through the hedge on to her land within five hours of the order being handed down by magistrates.

He was ordered to return to court on January 26, for what could be a high-profile case with significant repercussions for the future of ASBOs.

However there is a chance that the matter could never reach court, if the challenge is successful. A court in Cromer, Norfolk, is due to decide on January 10 whether to make the interim ASBO permanent, and Mr Hagan’s lawyers could use the occasion as a opportunity to challenge it.

Already human rights campaigners, animal rights campaigners and Norman Lamb, the local MP, have weighed in on both sides of the argument.

Liberty, the human rights groups, said that this novel use of an ASBO could set a dangerous precedent. Shami Chakrabarti, the director, said: “We see this very broad definition of antisocial behaviour, and how dangerous it could be to our democracy.”

Malcolm Fowler, former chairman of the Law Society criminal law committee, condemned this use of ASBOs.

He said: “I fear it is going to become worse before someone has an attack of sanity.”

Mr Hagan arrived in court shortly after 2pm yesterday, and entered a plea of not guilty.

Dorothy Pulsford-Harris, for the prosecution, said that the Crown Prosecution Service believed that the matter should be heard before magistrates rather than a jury.

“This is at the lower end of antisocial behaviour orders,” she told the court.

Afterwards, Mr Hagan remained silent. But Mr Balls said in a statement: “Mr Hagan doesn’t believe that he failed to comply with the ASBO without a reasonable excuse.”

He said that they were working out the best way to proceed, but that they were considering whether it would be appropriate to challenge the order.

The court case came as the RSPCA announced that it would be re-examining the condition of Mr Hagan’s pigs, after two complaints were made about their condition. One came from Mr Lamb, who announced that he would be visiting the farm himself to inspect the situation.

He is particularly concerned that when the pigs escape they roam on to the land of a neighbouring sheep-farmer, who then has to pay compensation to comply with foot-and-mouth orders. Mr Lamb says that the situation is crippling the sheep-farmer financially.

“The ASBO seemed the only way to proceed on this occasion but it is not adequate to deal with the issue in the long term.” Mr Lamb said that he had written to Margaret Beckett, the Environment Secretary, to ask whether the a change of the law should be considered.

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