A HOMEOWNER who legally destroyed a badger sett has spoken out in defence of his actions.

Carpenter Mark Whitlock of Salisbury Street, Shaftesbury, said he followed the correct legal process when he flattened the extensive sett that lay partially on his own property and partially on publicly-owned land near the Pavilions sheltered housing complex in St Martin's Lane.

Mr Whitlock, 54, also claims the sett was not the primary home of the badger population in the town, pointing out the creatures usually divide their time between numerous setts.

He said the badgers had wrought havoc in the garden of his home at 46 Salisbury Street, where he has lived for approximately a year.

He said: "I am not being seen in a very good light by people in the town, but the townspeople don't really understand how damaging the badgers have been to my property.

"Their digging caused an 8ft retaining wall in my garden to collapse and they undermined a small brick outbuilding.

"They are prolific diggers and have trashed the garden. They should be painted yellow and called JCBs."

Elderly residents of the Pavilions complained bitterly in November when specially constructed badger gates appeared at the entrances to the sett. The one-way gates, built and installed by Mr Whitlock, allowed the badgers to leave the sett but prevented them from re-entering.

Residents clashed with a digger driver employed to destroy the sett by Mr Whitlock on November 27 when they stood in front of the machine to prevent the work going ahead. The police were called and the elderly protesters were persuaded to desist after the legality of Mr Whitlock's actions had been established.

Mr Whitlock said: "I didn't kill the badgers, I only excluded them. The gates were made to a design approved by Natural England and it told me that badgers live out of several setts.

"The population in Shaftesbury have a main sett in woods a little further out of town. The one I have destroyed appears to have been a satellite sett only, used as a base for foraging.

"I don't understand why people were surprised that the sett was destroyed because I put up a copy of my licence in plain view to inform the public of my intentions before I went ahead.

"I have nothing against badgers. I just wanted to be able to use my garden.

"In fact, I have gone to great lengths to ensure they have not been harmed and I have been a little bit upset and threatened by the way some local people have demonised me."

Pavilions resident Jean Ellis led protests against the destruction of the sett and has helped formulate plans to build a new artificial sett near to the site of the old one.

She said: "We love seeing the badgers come and go and we were very upset to see them moved on.

"We plan to have a new sett built and we have got lots of people who have volunteered to help us."

Mr Whitlock said he had no objection to an artificial sett being created nearby.