CARSPHAIRN horse breeder Alyson King has lost her £100,000 compensation fight against the Ministry of Defence.
A written judgement by Lord Pentland in the Court of Session said there was “insufficient evidence” to prove that low-flying jets were infringing her human rights and causing a nuisance above her property at Drumjohn.
The 48-year-old said she collapsed after reading Friday’s judgement and was taken to hospital.
She said: “There are legal options open to me and I am currently exploring this. It is not the end. I am not giving up the fight, there are too many human lives and too many animal lives at stake here.”
Ms King claims low flying military aircraft have caused misery since she moved there in 2000.
The area where her home, stables and animal sanctuary are located is within one of three Tactical Training Areas in the UK where aircraft are allowed to fly at a minimum of 100ft.
In other areas, the minimum is 250ft.
She told the court that her pedigree Arab Stallion horses had sustained injuries and her two-year-old grandson had been upset by the noise.
Representing herself in court, Ms King produced a series of calendars for 2006 to 2009 on which she had logged incidents of what they regarded as “unacceptably intrusive low flying”.
One of Ms King’s employees, Diane Mitchell, gave evidence to court in support of the claims.
The judgement states: “She referred, in particular, to a recent incident when she looked out of a window and saw what she described as the top of a jet.
“She stated that on another occasion she could see everything on the underside of a Hercules transport aircraft just as it cleared the trees.
“There had been incidents where she claimed to have seen jets through the trees; in other words they were flying lower than the top of the trees.”
The court heard how Ms King’s daughter, Sarah, was unable to attend the hearing “because of the effects of an injury caused by a horse which had been startled by a low-flying aircraft”.
In defence, the MoD called Wing Commander Jonathan Taylor, a former fighter pilot now working in Whitehall with responsibility for the policy, regulation and management of the UK Low-Flying System.
Lord Pentland said he was unable to accept Ms King’s evidence as “reliable” due to the statements given by Wing Commander Taylor.
The judgement states that an MoD analysis of the calendars “showed conclusively that on many of the dates identified on the calendars as incidents of flying below 150ft .... there had in fact been no operational low flying (OLF) authorised or flown by the RAF.
“Wing Commander Taylor made it abundantly clear in his evidence that there was, in practice, almost no possibility of OLF taking place on dates when it had not been authorised.
“It was highly unlikely, he said, that any pilot would indulge in OLF when it had not been authorised.”
Lord Pentland said he accepted the evidence given by Wing Commander Taylor as it was “cogent and compelling”.
Wing Commander Taylor told the court that low flying in that area directly above the property from west to east or the reverse was “extremely unlikely” because the terrain.
In conclusion, Lord Pentland stated: “I am willing to accept that military aircraft do fly over the subjects from time to time but I am unable to conclude that the pursuer has proved that there is a significant amount of OLF, ie flying below 250ft, as opposed to flights at a higher level.”
He went on: “Overall, I formed the clear impression that the pursuer has, for whatever reason, convinced herself that there is a substantial amount of OLF over the subjects.
“She sincerely believes this to be the case, but the facts as established in the evidence do not bear this out.”
