ROCK star’s son Otis Ferry has denied perverting the course of justice.
The 25-year-old countryside campaigner, of Easton Mascot, Shropshire, son of Roxy Music singer Bryan Ferry, appeared at Gloucester Crown Court for a plea hearing yesterday.
Ferry pleaded not guilty to two charges of perverting the course of justice. It was the first time he had entered formal pleas to the allegations. It is alleged Ferry approached witnesses in connection with other charges he faces. After a failed bail application, Judge Martin Picton remanded Ferry - on remand in HMP Gloucester since Septembe - in custody to face trial on March 9.
Ferry is alleged to have robbed and assaulted a hunt monitor last year as she filmed him at his sport. The incident is alleged to have taken place while Ferry was with the Heythrop Hunt, which covers Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire.
The robbery and assault trial failed was delayed in September when allegations of “witness nobbling” emerged. He was charged with two counts of perverting the course of justice. It is alleged he approached a witness - former groomsman David Hodgkiss - involved in the robbery and assault allegations.
Judge Picton told Ferry’s counsel it would be “inappropriate” to grant Ferry bail as investigations were ongoing.
Supporters - including Ferry’s mother, former model Lucy Helmore, and his girlfriend, Francesca Nimmo - filled the public gallery. Nimmo, a student at the Royal Agricultural College in Cirencester, was recently arrested on suspicion of perverting the course of justice. The 22-year-old was held by Gloucestershire Police at her home in Lower Bodington, Northamptonshire, last month.
Countryside Alliance official Adrian Simpson, 53, of Haverfordwest, Dyfed, was arrested on suspicion of perverting the course of justice. Nimmo and Simpson have been granted bail to January 28.
