THE Earl of Cardigan has been cleared of harassment for a third time in two weeks by magistrates in Chippenham.

It follows a series of allegations brought against him following a bitter fallout between him and John Moore, a trustee of Lord Cardigan’s 4,500-acre family estate in Savernake, Marlborough, who was removed by the High Court in London last year and ordered to repay the estate just under £118,000 that the court ruled he had wrongly taken in self-remuneration.

The three cases heard at North West Wiltshire Magistrates' Court on July 13, 20 and 27 involved complaints from Mr Moore, gamekeeper Peter Tilley and foreman Les Kyle, who all accused the Lord Cardigan, 62, of harassment.

However, magistrates on the bench acquitted the Earl, also known as David Brudenell-Bruce, of these charges.

“[I’m] hugely relieved,” he said. “It’s stupidity that most of them came to trial in the first place. It’s such a waste of the court’s time.”

Altogether, 17 charges have been lodged against him and brought to court by Wiltshire Police and the Wiltshire Crown Prosecution Service but none have them have ended in a conviction. There is one more charge to be heard and this case has been adjourned until October.

During the case on July 20, it had been alleged Lord Cardigan caused distress to gamekeeper of the Savernake estate Mr Tilley, by putting up notices on the forest grounds warning dog walkers that snares had been set by Mr Tilley, after the Earl’s own dog Lucy was injured on one of them.

Magistrates decided there was no case to answer and Lord Cardigan, who lives at Savernake Lodge, has vowed to make Savernake Forest a snare-free zone and has been in touch with The National Anti-Snaring Campaign.

He said: “Every time I find one I will remove it from where it poses a hidden hazard to local dogs and small children enjoying the forest.”

The latest case he was acquitted of related to Lord Cardigan’s attempts to stop foreman Mr Kyle from taking down the snare warning posters.

As reported in the Gazette on July 16, he was also cleared of harassing Mr Moore over a broken shower at Lord Cardigan's home which Mr Moore was responsible for.