Shropshire huntsman Otis Ferry today called for a major shake-up of the judiciary system after he spent four months of “hell” in prison only to be released when the charges were dropped.

Mr Ferry, 26, the son of Roxy Music singer Bryan Ferry, made the comments just over a week after he was given a one-year conditional discharge for causing “fear, stress and upset” to a woman who tried to film him riding with a hunt.

He had denied charges of robbery, affray and assault, relating to the same incident on November 21, 2007, but instead admitted a public order offence.

He had spent last Christmas in jail as part of the four months he served on remand in custody before he was cleared of two counts of perverting the course of justice.

Today Mr Ferry, of Eaton Mascott, near Shrewsbury, said it was “shocking” that he had spent four months in prison and was refused bail four times.

Mr Ferry, joint huntmaster of the South Shropshire Hunt, said: “We’ve got this legal system that if the judge wants to listen to the prosecution and they say they have a case for locking you up you can be locked up without trial. That should be looked at.”

He said: “If it wasn’t for the support I had off the Shropshire farmers and members of the Shropshire hunt I would have lost my job and had to move.

“There’s no compensation or consideration for the fact I was put through hell.”

A judge at Gloucester Crown Court told Mr Ferry last month that he had caused “fear, stress and upset” but accepted he had wrongly served more time in jail than the offence “could ever justify”.

The last 18 months has led to thoughts of whether Mr Ferry may consider looking towards a career in politics.

He said: “The dangerous thing about MPs today is that the majority are career politicians and want the job and power too much.

“The best politicians are never people who really want to be one, but people who feel they should, and personally all I can be sure of is I don’t want to be one.”

A spokesman for the Crown Prosecution Service today said: “Mr Ferry’s case was kept under review and dealt with according to the Code for Crown Prosecutors, in the same way as every other case.”

By John Kirk