Shropshire huntsman Otis Ferry has been freed from jail but is not allowed to step foot in the county because of his bail conditions.

The 26-year-old, of Eaton Mascott, near Shrewsbury, has spent the last four months in custody following his arrest on suspicion of trying to “nobble” a witness against him in a robbery and assault trial. He was yesterday released and granted bail on strict conditions including a £25,000 surety from his mother.

The joint master of the south Shropshire hunt must also stay out of the county, live with his mother – former model Lucy Birley – in Kensington, and report twice a week to the police before his trial.

Outside court, carrying his bag of belongings, he said: “I’m delighted to be out. The thing I was looking forward to most was seeing my hounds again but unfortunately that can’t be because I’m not allowed to go to Shropshire.

“I shall have to make do with seeing my own two dogs, Indy my 14-year-old lurcher and my Jack Russell terrier Tiny. Indy has been with me since I was at school and he’s been through a lot being without me.

“I can’t wait to see the outside world again. It is very hard to say how I feel about the whole prison thing – it has been a very strange experience, very moving.

“I have made a lot of friends in prison and I found lots of positives in the experience. People have very pre-meditated ideas about prison but it is very different to see it for yourself.

“I don’t think anything about prison is positive but I met a whole lot of people who I think will change the way I look at things.

“I have had over a year of having a court case hanging over me and even though I’m free now that hasn’t changed. I’m just anxious to get the case out of the way so I can live normally again.”

Ferry has pleaded not guilty to doing acts intended to pervert the course of justice by telling his ex-groomsman David Hodgkiss not to give evidence against him on charges of robbery and assault at his court trial in Cirencester last September.

He also denies assaulting hunt monitor Helen Ghalmi of a camera and assaulting her during a meeting of the Heythrop Hunt near Stow on the Wold, Gloucester, in November 2007.

By Rhea Parsons