a few facts need to be injected into this thread. Wild camping is not a criminal offence, it is a civil offence called trespassing, you cannot be prosecuted in a criminal court for wild camping because no such criminal law exists (unless it is in a building which is squatting). Wild camping (trespassing) is a civil matter between the wild camper and the landowner, a landowner can take a wild camper through the civil courts but this is extremely unlikely to happen though not impossible. A wild camper that causes damage to anything at all like trampled crops, branches broken/cut off trees, damaged fencing or gates etc can be prosecutued in a criminal court for the offence of criminal damage or theft if plants etc have been taken, but not for wild camping because that is not a criminal offence.
And it should be noted the law applies to ''everyone'', it is noticeable how some landowners who spout off about breaking the law often seem to think they don't have to adibe by the same law themselves and think the law is made for everyone else to live by apart from them, those landowners who threaten wild campers with violence or actually inflict it have also broken the law commiting the serious criminal offence of assault and those who attempt to confiscate a wild campers kit or damage it have also broken the law and have committed a serious criminal offence of theft and criminal damage which they can be prosecuted for in a criminal court, such bullying and threatening landowners should take note that some wild campers are not scared by such tactics and will defend themselves with equal vigour. The truth is there are good and bad on both sides of the fence, I know wild campers who love and respect the countryside and follow the leave no trace rule and cause no harm whatsoever to anyone at all, there are also wild campers that are hooligans and yobbos and no quarter should be spared those, there are some very nice landowners who are symparthetic to others who are not so fortunate as to own hundreds of acres and there are some landowners who are just very nasty despicable bullies who would not even let you breathe the air over their land.
The trouble with the law is that it is not always reflected in reality on the ground and if police are called they seem more willing to believe the landowner than the other person. Wild camping is a case where common sense should prevail on both sides of the fence but often many act on bias instead. If you choose your location sensibly and behave responsibly then no problem is likely to arise when wild camping, but if you camp in the middle of a game shooting covert or close to a farmhouse or in someones orchard or nature reserve etc the you can expect the landowner to be irritated and deserve no sympathy. It should be noted there are folks on this forum who have wild camped and posted pictures so be careful who you condemn if you believe in fairness and the law being equal to all.
