THE brave pensioner who blocked off a Colchester beauty spot to stop a group of travellers from driving their caravans onto it has branded her attackers as "arrogant". 

Sarah Freeman stopped Sam Loveridge and Jamie Crawt from getting onto Hilly Fields, in Colchester. 

READ MORE: Travellers guilty of assault on have-a-go hero pensioner 

Father-of-three Loveridge, of Chobham, Surrey, who works as a tree surgeon, denied assault by beating but was today found guilty at Chelmsford Magistrates' Court.

He was fined £650 and ordered to carry out 210 hours of community service.

Gazette:

Victim - Sarah Freeman 

Jamie Crawt, 24, from Littlehampton, West Sussex, was previously convicted of assaulting Mrs Freeman in a separate trial.

Speaking from her home in South Street, Colchester, she outlined a “crazy” year of heightened attention after her heroic actions.

“I had to change my hair colour because so many people were stopping me in the street and shaking my hand,” she said.

“I am still up at the field every other day, I know lots of the dog walkers there now - some offer to walk my dogs if I’m not able and they don’t mind me using their parking spaces.

“People from halfway around the world have sent me messages about it.

“I have far-flung family in Canada who I don’t really know that picked up on the story.”

She added she was satisfied with the sentence Sam Loveridge had received.

He was fined £650 by magistrates and ordered to carry out 210 hours of community service.

She said: “He was the one who instigated the incident - they must have seen the footage and agreed because 210 hours of community service is a lot.

“He was trying to prise my fingers off the gate, he wasn’t put off by the fact that lots of people were taking photographs - he must of an IQ of about 41.

“I did suffer some damage to my neck - I am told it is something to do with the nerves from hanging on to the gate.

“They were a pretty arrogant pair.”

During a hearing yesterday prosecutor Mo Miah said: "I think, essentially, the pictures speak for themselves in this case, but it's quite useful for you to see what occurred.

"She noticed some caravans when she was out walking he dog- she was concerned that the caravans were going to enter the land and so she formed a human shield of sorts between her and the land.

"She was met with a torrent of abuse - the word 'wh*re' was used against her, the word 'c**t' was used against her."