A POLICEMAN accused of injuring an Evesham animal rights protester during a demonstration described how he lost his nerve when the incident in which she was hurt took place.

PC David Manton told Peterborough Crown Court he fled the scene on July 29, last year, on the A1 at Little Paxton, Cambridgeshire, because he feared being wrongly blamed and attacked by protesters.

Lynn Sawyer claims Manton deliberately shook a 15-foot tripod on which she was staging a protest against research laboratory Huntingdon Life Sciences.

It collapsed, and the 34-year-old broke her leg in four places and underwent plastic surgery for a laceration on her face. She is now left with one leg an inch shorter than the other and permanent scarring to her face.

Manton, aged 49, a police officer for 12 years, denies causing grievous bodily harm.

On the day of the protest, demonstrators had erected two tripods on the A1 to hang a banner protesting against animal experiments.

Miss Sawyer, a member of the Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty group, was sitting on top of one when Manton, who was off-duty, drove up on his motorcycle.

Manton told the court he could have gone by, but chose to stop. He said he did not identify himself as a policeman, but shouted at her to come down. She said no.

"There was maybe a pause of half-a-second. I heard Miss Sawyer shouting from the top of the tripod," he said. "I put my right hand on it and it twisted in a clockwise direction, and as it twisted it started to fall.

"I said can you get up and she said, 'No my leg's broken', and my nerve just went and I got back on the bike and drove off.''

Manton failed to report the incident and was arrested the next day.

He told the court as he left the scene he heard someone shout, 'We've got your number', and he knew he would be caught, but wanted time to think.

"I couldn't face it, I was in turmoil, I was overwhelmed," he said.

He said he had only taken hold of the pole to test its weight and see how rigid it was. His intention was to help his police colleagues dismantle it when they arrived.

The trial continues.