GM demonstrators destroyed crops in the WRONG Sealand field on the eve of the most recent protest, says the farmer at the centre of the dispute.

Environmental activists broke into the Birchenfields Farm fields and destroyed between 30 and 40% of maize there.

'I received a call from two people on Friday night,' said Green Party councillor Klaus Armstrong-Braun, who took part in Saturday's demo. 'They apologised for not being able to make it to the demo but said they had been to the farm and destroyed some of the GM maize instead.'

But the Chronicle can reveal that the midnight warriors hit the non-GM crop by mistake.

'There was damage to the control crop which has no genetic modification at all,' said farmer John Cottle, who is running the GM trial on behalf of crop science company Aventis.

'It seems the protesters found their way into the wrong field.'

The incident happened the night before the latest protest at the farm by environmentalist group the Custodians of the Land.

Six police vans were lined up across the entrance to the trial site during the demonstration and it is estimated more than 50 police officers attended on Saturday afternoon to ensure order was kept.

'They were too heavy-handed,' said Klaus. 'We rang them a fortnight ago to let them know we would not be bringing a lot of people so they only needed to send one or two officers down but they sent nearer 50.'

At the protest Mr Cottle pledged to complete this year's trial but said he was not sure whether the final season of the proposed three-year experiment would be carried out in Sealand.

'I do not know,' he said. 'All I would say is that this crop has proved to me that GM is the way forward.

'So far the control crop has been found to have only one type of weed growing around its base while the GM crop has about six.

'This proves the sprays we use are less harmful to the environment as a result of the crop's genetic modification and encourage bio-diversity, which is what environmentalists want.'

After an hour of demonstration on Saturday the Custodians of the Land, the main protesters made up of Friends of the Earth, Wellhealth, the Green Party and local farmers, held their organic picnic opposite the field and sang through the night as it became a 24-hour candlelit vigil.

North Wales Police felt the day was a success as far as their role was concerned.

'Once the event settled down and it became clear that there were only a few demonstrators we adjusted the police presence accordingly and we were very happy with our handling of the event and the protesters' behaviour,' said a spokesman.