A FARMER made a dramatic public intervention as his family farm was about to be auctioned off against his wishes.

The 190-acre Birks Farm, near Kirkby Stephen, had been in his family for three generations but was repossessed earlier this year.

That decision prompted fellow farmers who are supporting Chris Atkinson to stage a blockade there when it was put on the market.

Mr Atkinson, 66, has vowed to fight to his dying day to get the farm back – and he says he is determined to stop other farmers suffering the same fate that befell him.

The beef and sheep farm was repossessed in February after he ran into financial difficulty and defaulted on huge loan repayments.

Mr Atkinson believes he was wrongly advised – and that the loan agreements he signed were doomed to failure.

The farm was finally put up for auction last Thursday in a hotel near London’s Marble Arch.

Though originally valued at £2.4m, it sold for £1.3m.

Mr Atkinson said: “When the auctioneer was about to start the bidding, I got up and said ‘you can’t sell this farm. It’s under litigation’.”

With hundreds of people watching, Mr Atkinson’s local supporter Peter Elliott, a former helicopter pilot, also stood up and addressed the auction room for more then 10 minutes , explaining why it would be wrong to proceed with the sale of the farm.

Mr Atkinson said: “Peter did a proper job of it and people came up to us afterwards and said what an excellent job he had done.

“But when Peter finished, the auctioneer said his instructions were to sell the farm and he just carried on and sold it.”

Mr Atkinson has now asked Penrith and The Border MP Rory Stewart to intervene in the case and he hopes to meet him this week.

The repossession left Mr Atkinson, his wife, and one of their sons homeless.

He had battled to get a court order to block the sale and believes contracts have not yet been exchanged on the sale.

Speaking earlier this year, Mr Atkinson’s daughter Gill Dargue, 36, said: “What’s happened to my parents, who are now living witth us, has been soul destroying. “They’re homeless.

“My father borrowed money and he knew that he had interest to pay back, but we feel they wanted the farm. It was our father’s life.”

One of Mr Atkinson’s neighbours, John Morley, said the money men involved in the case should have given him more time to sort out the finances.

PowellsLaw, which represented UK Acorn Finance, the firm involved in the repossession, issued a statement at the time of the repossession, insisting they had acted lawfully.

Partner Paul Addison said: “I act for UK Acorn Finance Limited who are the mortgagees in possession of Birks Farm, possession of the property having been granted to my client pursuant to an order for possession having been made in the Carlisle County Court in January 2014 against my client’s borrowers, Mr Christopher Atkinson and his wife.

“The order was enforced by the County Court bailiffs in February 2015 when they evicted Mr and Mrs Atkinson from the property.”