The TV naturalist Chris Packham, who is suing a magazine he alleges has published unsubstantiated claims about his charity work, has told a court he frequently wonders “is today the day that a psychopath fuelled by all this hate turns up and kills me”.
Packham has taken three men to court in a libel claim covering nine articles, which included allegations he defrauded and “manipulated” people into donating to a charity to rescue tigers while knowing the animals were well looked after.
He was also accused of dishonestly raising money for the charity at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic while knowing it was due to receive a £500,000 benefit from its insurance.
The strongly denied allegations, repeated in several tweets and videos, relate to the broadcaster’s involvement with the Wildheart Trust, which runs a wildlife sanctuary on the Isle of Wight.
On the second day of the trial at the high court in London on Wednesday, the BBC Springwatch presenter, beginning his evidence, said he was a “victim of a campaign of vile and relentless intimidation”.
In a 50-page witness statement, Packham said he had attracted criticism from people who shoot and foxhunt – detailing some of the threats he receives.
The environmentalist said his post had been stolen regularly, adding that “random dead animals and human faeces are regularly posted to me”.
“I have become accustomed to the plethora of dead animals people leave at my home,” he said.
He said that in October 2021, “masked attackers” set fire to a car and burned down the gate to his home, with police said to believe the arson was carried out by paid professionals.
He said he believed the “defendants’ unsubstantiated claims have misled, agitated and fuelled a vocal and violent conspiratorial fringe who increasingly post threatening and vile material about me and my family”.
The 61-year-old later said he feared for his and his family’s security. “I do go to walk my dogs in the woods and wonder: is today the day that a psychopath fuelled by all this hate turns up and kills me? I genuinely no longer expect to live a long life free from violence and intimidation. Because it may only take the one wrong person to read Country Squire Magazine for things to go horribly wrong.”
Packham said the men had “repeatedly picked on and mocked my Asperger’s syndrome” as well as comparing him to Jimmy Savile.
The presenter called these allegations “totally unconscionable”, adding: “They are ridiculous, utterly unfounded, and plainly designed to be as upsetting, threatening and reputationally damaging as possible.”
He later denied fraudulently raising money for the charity, adding that “we weren’t hopeful that we would be insured against Covid-19 closures”.
“The insurance payments … ultimately saved the sanctuary in what was a time of dire need. But to be very clear, if we had not launched the fundraising appeal as rapidly as we did then these payments may have arrived too late to make a difference,” he said.
Dominic Wightman, the editor of the online site Country Squire Magazine, is defending the libel claim along with Nigel Bean, a writer, and a third man, Paul Read.
Lawyers for Wightman and Bean said the articles in the claim could be defended as true while Read said he was not responsible for the publications as he was a “mere proofreader”.
The trial before Mr Justice Saini is due to conclude on 12 May, with a decision expected at a later date.
