A DISABLED ecologist from Witney has said he is disgusted with the human race after seeing repeated littering in a beauty spot near his home.

After a stroke eight years ago left Gavin Hageman partially blind and with semi-paralysed limbs on his left side, walking along the River Windrush through the meadows near his home has helped him stay fit and happy.

But the 53-year-old, of Crawley Road, said he feels let down after finding a shopping trolley, sofa and a mattress dumped either into or next to the river in recent months.

Mr Hageman said: “I had a guide dog called Richie and I found a good part of getting more mobile and fitter was taking him to the Windrush Meadow close to where I live.

“I’m a keen naturalist and I’m passionate about getting out into nature and finding some peace and quiet in natural surroundings.

“It was fantastic going out there and throwing the ball for Richie.”

Mr Hageman said on one occasion in August the ball became stuck on a shopping trolley that had been flung into the water from a bridge.

He added: “I was furious at the fact somebody had done this. It annoyed me so much that some brainless moron had dropped it down there.”

He said his ‘stubbornness’ and ‘belligerence’ led him to make the decision to fish the trolley out, despite his disability. Armed with a hook attached to the end of a rope, Mr Hageman and his 14-year-old son, Finlay, went to the bridge to get the trolley out. They were joined by a dog walker who helped them hook the trolley and pull it out of the river and onto the road, where it was later collected.

Mr Hageman said he felt ‘chuffed to bits’ after removing the trolley from the water. But then, just a few days later, he returned to the spot and found a sofa dumped in the river. A mattress had also been left ditched on the bank.

He said: “I couldn’t get the sofa out, so I decided I had to leave it and hope somebody would come and do something about it.”

He said that the two incidents reflect a general lack of consideration for the natural environment within the modern world.

He said: “I’m just shocked by the amount of litter. It incenses me. Those two events caused me a lot of distress and left me disgusted with the human race.”

Mr Hageman said he believes said that anti-littering ideas should be introduced to school curriculums.

A spokesman for the Environment Agency, which manages the river, said it encourages people not to be anti-social and warned that throwing items like trolleys and sofas into the river could present a flood risk. They urged anybody witnessing such incidents to report it directly to them on 0800 807060.