A retired police officer who kept horses verbally abused and physically attacked a show jumper who rented an adjacent paddock during a bitter argument over fencing.

Gillian Crann, 62, branded champion show jumper Amy Meecham a ‘d*ke’ and ‘c*ck in a frock’ after one of her horses chewed through a fence dividing the two women’s paddocks, a court heard.

Ostensibly the two women had a great deal in common: as well as both being horse enthusiasts renting adjacent fields, Mrs Meecham was a serving police sergeant in the same force where retired Crann had spent her career.

But a bitter feud developed between the pair over the boundaries of their adjoining paddocks at Rodley Fold Farm in Leeds, where both kept their horses.

One of Mrs Meecham’s mounts had chewed through a fence separating the two plots and Crann had insisted it be replaced, which the serving West Yorkshire Police sergeant had promised to do.

Married Mrs Meecham, an accomplished event rider with the Forces Equine and who competed at this year’s Royal Windsor Horse Show, had bought replacement stakes for the longer term repair and installed a temporary electric fence in the meantime to keep their respective horses apart.

Champion show jumper Amy Meecham, who is also a serving police officer was slapped, scratched and called a ‘d*ke’ and ‘c*ck in a frock’ by a horse owner in a row over a fence

Retired police officer Gillian Crann, 62, launched the verbal and physical attack on Mrs Meecham after one of her horses chewed through a fence dividing the women’s paddocks

When one of Mrs Meecham’s horses chewed through a fence separating the two plots, Crann had insisted it be replaced. Mrs Meecham had set up a temporary electric fence to separate the women’s horses and bought bought replacement stakes. But on October 11 last year, Crann lost patience and marched across to Mrs Meecham’s plot to confront her about it

But, on October 11, last year, Crann’s patience snapped over perceived delays to the repair and she angrily confronted her neighbour – striding into her enclosed two-and-a-half acre field to confront her.

Mrs Meecham told Leeds Magistrates’ Court how Crann owned the boundary fence that separated their two fields but her own horse had chewed a post, which horses often do.

Mrs Meecham, still wearing her West Yorkshire Police uniform as she had gone to the yard straight from work, was feeding and watering her horses when she noticed Crann striding towards her through her paddock.

‘I asked her calmly to get out of my field. She had previously come into my field and refused to leave,’ Mrs Meecham explained to the court.

‘I asked her to leave several times, but she said ‘It is trespass, it’s a civil matter’.’

Mrs Meecham, who acknowledged she is physically much bigger than Crann, said she remained level and calm while walking towards her, continually asking her to leave her field.

‘She was getting more and more angry and annoyed towards me and then she went to hit me around the face,’ said Mrs Meecham.

Crann slapped and scratched at Mrs Meecham, who grabbed her wrists to stop the attack.

She also grabbed at the collar of her police shirt and ripped it, tearing off a button and an epaulette from the shoulder.

‘She was wild,’ the police officer recalled. She was saying ‘You are not at work now, you can’t make me leave’.

‘I pushed her away because she was still dragging me and she fell to the floor.

‘When she got up, she came at me again and kicked my left leg. She was screaming at me.

‘She said that my husband doesn’t love me anymore and that I was a ‘d*ke’ and ‘a c*ck in a frock’. She was being very, very nasty.’

Mrs Meecham said she found the whole incident upsetting as the paddock and her horses had previously been a space where she felt she could go to relax and unwind after work but that her experience with Crann had undermined this.

She went on: ‘I was distressed by the homophobic words. Why should someone be using that language? It’s abhorrent.’

Crann was persuaded to move away from Mrs Meecham’s field by another woman who has animals at the farm.

Lee Parcell, who also has horses in an adjoining paddock at the stables, said she saw Mrs Meecham asking the defendant to leave her plot and recalled that she was being polite.

‘I saw Gillian grab Amy by the neck and Amy pushed Gillian away, in an attempt to make her let go and leave,’ said Ms Parcell.

She said she saw the ripped collar and a ‘muddy kick print’ on Mrs Meecham’s jean leg.

The witness confirmed that horses damaging posts by chewing is ‘completely normal’ at stables.

Crann, a widow, who retired from the police 13 years ago, said she had entered her neighbour’s plot to discuss when the fence would be replaced.

She claimed she only acted in self-defence after Mrs Meecham used a palm strike – a recognised police technique – to push her to the ground.

‘To stop myself falling I grabbed her shirt,’ she told the court.

She also claimed Mrs Meecham struck her in the face.

‘I didn’t say that her husband didn’t love her anymore,’ said Crann.

But she did admit calling her a ‘d*ke’ and using the phrase ‘c*ck in a frock’.

She explained: ‘It came out because I was describing her as being manly looking. It was just a throw away comment.

‘With her being a serving police officer, like I was myself, she’ll have been called a lot worse. I know I was.’

Despite Crann’s excuses, magistrates found the frail widow guilty of assault using abusive words to cause alarm and distress following a trial.

She was fined a total of £2,107, including £100 compensation to Mrs Meecham.

Crann was also made subject to a 12-month restraining order forbidding her to contact Mrs Meecham or to enter plot two, field four, at Rodley Fold Farm.

Mrs Meecham (pictured) is a serving police sergeant and was still wearing her West Yorkshire Police uniform while working on her stables when she was confronted by her adversary

Married Mrs Meecham is an accomplished event rider with the Forces Equine and competed at this year’s Royal Windsor Horse Show

Chair Philip Sellen told her: ‘We heard a credible account from the complainant, which has been confirmed by Miss Parcell, that you grabbed the complainant by her neck.

‘You admitted on the stand that you used the word d*ke and other homophobic words and we believe that this was to cause some distress to the complainant.’

Crann was previously prosecuted in the same city in 2017 when she was drunk in charge of a bull terrier called Gladys which attacked a five-year-old boy and his mother.

The boy’s mother said she feared he was going to be killed and the animal then turned on her as she tried to protect him.

Crann was found to be three-and-a-half times the drink drive limit at the time of the horrifying incident.

She was given a suspended prison sentence at Leeds Crown Court and was told to pay £1,500 compensation.