A RETIRED policeman who was infuriated by Princess Anne’s call for the gassing of badgers is to lead a protest demo outside her Gatcombe Park estate which he has dubbed ‘Gascombe Park.’

Since retiring, Ray Egan has become a modern-day John Bull – dressing in red tailed jacket, white breeches and a Union Jack waistcoat to champion causes he believes in.

At the weekend he joined an anti-badger cull protest rally and march in Gloucestershire where the government has announced a second year of culling.

“I was incensed by what Princess Anne said on Countryfile,” said Mr Egan, from Birmingham.

“I am now organising a protest outside Gatcombe Park in two weeks time to let her know how people feel about her ill-informed comments.

"As well as serving as a police officer I have also worked in the agriculture industry, specifically cattle, and I do not believe badgers pass TB to cows.

“In fact my views have put me in conflict with the Hereford Bull society, of which I’ve been the mascot for many years, and my position may now be untenable.

“I am totally opposed to the killing of badgers.”

Mr Egan joined about five hundred protestors from all over the UK who joined a protest march through Gloucester on Saturday.

His sign on one side read: “All badgers beware of the gas at Gascombe Park” and on the other “God’s Creatures - all badgers have a right to life.”

Dominic Dyer, new chief executive of The Badger Trust, called for the government to stop the culling and move instead to vaccinating badgers and cattle against TB.

There were boos from the crowd when he also condemned Princess Anne’s call for badgers to be gassed in their setts rather than shot.