A farmer who used a tractor to flip a car that was parked on his driveway has told jurors he felt threatened, and that “an Englishman’s home is his castle”.

The court was shown mobile phone footage of Robert Hooper, 57, using a yellow tele-handler to lift a silver Vauxhall Corsa from the entrance of Brockersgill Farm, Newbiggin-in-Teesdale, County Durham.

He then moved it onto the road outside his property, before the video also showed his tractor’s lifting rails strike 21-year-old Connor Burns, who had been visiting nearby Low Force waterfall with friends.

Hooper is on trial at Durham Crown Court where he denies dangerous driving and criminal damage following a clash last June.

The farmer, who gave evidence on the second day of the trial, said he had previously politely asked Mr Burns and the Corsa driver Elliott Johnson to move the car from his farm entrance as he had a busy day ahead of him, baling silage.

He told the court that a shirtless Mr Burns, who has told the court he had drank around six bottles of Corona lager that day, said to him: “I’m not effing moving this car.”

The farmer claimed the younger man punched him twice in the farm buggy he was driving, bursting his lip.

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Hooper told the court: “I thought: ‘It is time to get out of there’, and I said: ‘If you don’t move it, I will.’

“My mind was racing. I thought: ‘We have a bit of a problem here, there’s two of them, half my age’.

“I thought if the car was off the property, that would be then off the property, out of the way.”

He added he returned to his farmyard and got in his yellow loader after putting its forks on and then went back down the lane to the two men.

He told the jury: “I felt threatened and an Englishman’s home is his castle, and my castle starts at that front gate.”

Michael Rawlinson, defending, asked Hooper why he did not call the police.

Hooper told the court there had previously been eight break-ins at the farm over the years and he had not had “the best response” from the police, who might have taken an hour to arrive.

The farmer also said he asked Mr Burns to move the car a second time, who then made a “come on” gesture.

He told the jury he felt worried for his safety and also his partner’s, which prompted him to lift the Corsa.

After pushing it onto the road, he claimed there was “an onslaught” from Mr Burns, who punched him through the window of his vehicle and knocked off his glasses.

He said he “definitely” did not mean to strike Mr Burns with the tractor’s forks.

The trial continues.

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