A LANDOWNER who was mowed down by a group of hare coursers said he fears someone will be killed in a similar confrontation.

Speaking hours after being released from hospital the 62-year-old farmer from Hitcham, near Stowmarket - who only wants to be identified by his first name for fear of reprisals - has warned about the dangers of people facing up to coursers.

Rodney was called on Sunday at 10.30am by a neighbour who had seen a group of men hare coursing on his land.

He immediately went out in his truck and blocked two gateways - one with the vehicle’s digging equipment and the other with the truck.

“As I got there, they were driving around in the car and my son had gone out in his vehicle on to the field,” he said.

“The car was spinning, it was going so fast. I was standing in the field and I was confronted by two gentlemen, they advanced towards me and he put me over the bonnet and I was thrown off.

“They went past between two cars and they disappeared at a fantastic rate up the road.”

The vehicle, a blue Subaru Legacy estate, powered down the road as Rodney’s wife Julie, 53, was walking towards it.

“She was walking, running, up to me to try and stop me from confronting them and she jumped into the ditch, she had to jump out of the way,” he said.

Rodney spent six hours in West Suffolk Hospital receiving treatment for a bruised back and a cut hand.

“I do not know what I have put my family through, that was the worrying thing,” he said.

“There’s going to be a death because people are getting fed up and there’s so much of it now; it’s becoming a huge problem now.

“We have been here nearly 100 years, we take pride in what we do and we do not like people doing what they did.”

Rodney said only 10 days before the confrontation there had been more hare coursers on his land but he only found out two days after it happened. The driver of the Subaru is described as a white male, aged 40-50 years old, around 5’9” tall, with light blonde hair.

A second male is described as a white male, in his 30s, around 5’9” tall, with blonde hair, of muscular build and wearing a tight blue t-shirt.

The estate car, registration number T618 DFC, was extensively damaged and driven off in the direction of Preston St Mary.

Anyone with information should call police on 101.