The Earl of Cardigan has been declared unfit to plead by a district judge and taken to hospital in an ambulance from Salisbury court on Tuesday.
Lord Cardigan, 59, who lives on the Savernake estate, on the edge of Marlborough, was due to stand trial in October on charges of assault and criminal damage and was released on bail after the court was told an ambulance was standing by to take him to Salisbury District Hospital.
A condition of the bail was also that he made no contact with five witnesses involved in the case, which was adjourned until July 22.
But on Tuesday evening he was arrested again on charges of criminal damage to pheasant feeds and of the theft of a battery and electrical power unit from the Savernake Estate.
And yesterday morning District Judge Emma Arbuthnot declared that the Earl – charged in the name of David Brudenell-Bruce – was unfit to plead.
Marie-Claire Amuah, defending, told the judge: “My client is unfit to plead today. I am certainly unable to take instruction from him.”
A court assessment officer said: “He is psychologically unwell, but does not need to be detained under the Mental Health Act or any enforced admission to hospital.”
Judge Arbuthnot granted the Earl bail and adjourned the case until July 12 and ruled that he must not contact or come within 50 metres of five people who live on the 4,500-acre Savernake Estate.
