ANTI-HUNT campaigner Joe Hashman is suing a garden centre he claims sacked him because the owners are avid bloodsports supporters.

Lifelong animal rights campaigner Mr Hashman of Shaftesbury, known across north Dorset as gardening writer "Dirty Nails", claims he was unfairly dismissed from his position at Orchard Park Garden Centre, Gillingham, and is seeking £50,000 at an employment tribunal for loss of earnings and injury to feelings.

As a self-declared hunt saboteur, Mr Hashman believes his sacking in September last year was motivated by the pro-hunt sympathies of Orchard Park owners Sheila and Ron Clarke, and board member Lucinda Stokes, who are all keen supporters of the South and West Wiltshire Hunt.

He also alleges that the trio's antipathy to him was exacerbated by the death of former huntsman Andrew Prater, who was killed following an accident at the Gillingham and Shaftesbury Show in August 2009, and who Mr Hashman had many run-ins with while protesting against hunts.

Mr Prater, who died from injuries sustained when metal fences fell on him as he helped set up an enclosure at the Motcombe Turnpike Showground, was employed as a farm manager by Mr and Mrs Clarke and was a close friend of Mrs Stokes, who was formerly joint master of the South and West Wiltshire Hunt.

Mr Hashman further alleges that his employers were upset by his role in the conviction of prominent huntswoman Clarissa Dickson Wright, star of the BBC's Two Fat Ladies cookery programme, who was found guilty of unlawfully participating in a hare coursing event in August 2009.

Mr Hashman had covertly filmed footage of the coursing in March 2007 as part of his activities as an undercover investigator for the International Fund for Animal Welfare, which bought the private prosecution against Miss Dickson Wright under the Hunting Act.

Mr Hashman is known to readers of the Western Gazette as the author of a weekly gardening column and several books on the subject.

A member of the Hunt Saboteurs Association since 1984, in March 2009 he was employed by Orchard Park as a garden designer and had built a demonstration vegetable garden at the centre. He was sacked the day before the funeral of Mr Prater.

Shah Qureshi, Mr Hashman's lawyer, said there had been no indication prior to his client's dismissal that his employers were dissatisfied with his work.

Mr Hashman claims that his strong commitment to anti-hunt causes, environmentalism, animal rights and veganism constitute a philosophical belief and should therefore enjoy the protection of the Employment Equality (Religion and Belief) Regulations 2003.

Mr Hashman said: "I am really sad that it has come to this and that it has affected a lot of personal relationships, but I am just sticking up for my rights."

The case is due to be heard at an employment tribunal in Southampton in January. Orchard Park denies the allegations and claims Mr Hashman was let go because his vegetable plot at the centre was financially unviable.