Chris Packham living in fear for life after chilling threats and home car bombed
Chris Packham has endured several terrifying threats in his fight to protect nature that have left him fearing for his life.
The climate change campaigner has returned to screens with a brand new series of BBC favourite Winterwatch, but it isn't without some hesitancy. Security measures have been stepped up to protect the wildlife broadcaster, who is presenting this time from RSPB Arne in Dorset, alongside Michaela Strachan and Iolo Williams.
In the past month alone, Chris has faced two threats and doesn't want to take any chances after the horrific incident in 2021 where a car was petrol-bombed outside his home, torching his gates. During this latest series of Winterwatch, the presenter has been allocated his own bodyguard who accompanies him during and after filming.
Chris Packham holding the dead badger in front of the gates it was hung from leading to his residence. (Ewan Galvin/Solent News)He told the Mirror: "A couple of times recently, before the Watches, we've had specific threats for me. So we’ve had a person who’s there and stays at the hotel, and then goes with me to the place." Chris revealed that while the threats are not death threats, they warn of harm to the broadcaster, and come in the form of nasty emails.
"We've got the person's email address, obviously, I’ve reported them to the police. I haven’t heard back from the police but they’ve acknowledged receipt of them. So we’ve had two in the last month, saying, ‘I’m going to harm you and harm your family.'"
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It comes more than three years after Balaclava-clad hate campaigners blew up a Land Rover outside the front gate of his remote country home in New Forest. The father was luckily alone in the house and had gone to bed when he heard the 'explosion'.
Balaclava-clad thugs drove the vehicle to the BBC Springwatch presenter’s remote country home and set fire to it before fleeing in a getaway car (Supplied)He told the Mirror previously: "The gate isn’t visible from the bedroom but of course when it exploded, it went off with a massive bang which woke me and the dogs up. It was an inferno. The neighbours called the fire brigade and they turned up and put it out. The police turned up a bit later."
Earlier that day, the TV star had led a march to Buckingham Palace to call on the Royal Family to re-wild their estates. And he's also been a target in years prior to this. In 2019, he received death threats after launching a legal challenge to stop people shooting so-called pest birds like crows and pigeons.
He was also sent packages of human excrement, had barbed wire left on his drive to puncture his tyres and found dead crows tied to his front gate. Chris’s long-term partner, conservationist Charlotte Corney and step-daughter, Megan McCubbin, often stay at the property.
In an interview with This Morning following the 2021 house attack, he admitted he fears his family will be targeted after the harassment escalated to having dead animals pinned to his door. "This is now a different type of threat," he said. "They've now actively damaged our property with an exploding car and we wonder where it goes from here.
"Is it going to be the house that's burned down? Are we going to be physically abused? Are they going to damage our vehicles? I mean, ultimately when people are taking these sorts of actions, you never know when they're going to stop. And that's why we've been working so cooperatively and amenably and brilliantly with the police.
"We've taken on board all of their advice and we have certain practices and protocols that we have to do now when it comes to receiving post and so on and so forth. I get up in the morning and all I want to do is make the world a better place for wildlife and people!"
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