Otis: Prison life is 'namby pamby'

Shropshire huntmaster Otis Ferry has claimed prison life in a "namby-pamby" society is "not tough".

Ferry, of Eaton Mascott, near Shrewsbury, is being held at HMP Gloucester while awaiting trial on charges of robbery, assault and attempting to pervert the course of justice.

The 25-year-old son of former Roxy Music singer Bryan Ferry wrote to hunting publication Horn & Hound to denounce the jail system.

The joint huntmaster of the South Shropshire Hunt said: "Contrary to popular belief, prison life is not tough, and in this namby-pamby society we even get our own televisions, although I have quickly realised that watching it is quite a punishment in itself.

"I am not a TV watcher outside prison and so I keep to my books as much as possible.

"Other than that, we go outside for half an hour every day in a tennis court-sized yard, like battery hens, walk around in circles for a while then return to our cells for the rest of the day."

It is alleged Ferry robbed and assaulted a hunt monitor last year as she filmed him on the Heythrop Hunt in Oxfordshire.

He was later accused of approaching a witness to the allegations, and subsequently charged with perverting the course of justice. He was remanded in custody on September 18 and has been behind bars since.

"Most of my inmates are under 30 and we don't have much in common," he added. "There are not many countrymen."

Shrewsbury MP Daniel Kawczynski has claimed Ferry is a "political prisoner" and has written to the CPS demanding the countryside campaigner be bailed to await his next court appearance.