'Hunt invasion was so easy'

A close friend of Princes William and Harry today told a court how he burst into the chamber of the House of Commons.

Describing how he and other anti- hunting protesters meticulously planned their invasion, Luke Tomlinson admitted they had not believed it would be so easy.

The 28- year- old polo player told Bow Street magistrates he had thought it would be like "escaping Colditz", but that an MP actually stepped aside for them.

Though Otis Ferry, son of pop star Bryan Ferry, had disguised the group as building workers, Tomlinson had rated their chance of success at 50 per cent.

He told the court how the plan to storm the foxhunting debate was hatched in the Kensington home of Ferry's mother Lucy.

With Ferry and six others he has pleaded not guilty to disorderly behaviour last September. He described the hunting ban as "unjust and fuelled by extremist animal welfare groups."

The case continues.