Successful prosecutions

There have been over 130 successful prosecutions under the Hunting Act.

Listed below is a brief summary of some of the cases that have been reported in the press. Please note that due to the large amount of prosecutions it is not possible to list details of all the cases here.

21 July 2010:  Alistair Robinson, A terrierman for the Ullswater Foxhounds, was found guilty in Penrith Magistrate’s court of breaching Section 1 of the Hunting Act. Video evidence captured by League observers shows Robinson digging out the fox from underground and then beating it to death on 26 October 2009. He then tried to hide the carcass in a dry stone wall where it was later retrieved. Robinson was fined £250 and ordered to pay £900 in costs. Watch the video.

Sept 2009: TV chef and ‘Fat Lady’ Clarissa Dickson-Wright and race horse trainer Sir Mark Prescott convicted on hare coursing charges following a private prosecution by IFAW.

July 2009:  Two landowners have been found guilty of attending and permitting their land to be used for an illegal hare coursing event. Former racehorse trainer Miles Henry Easterby, 79, of Great Habton near Malton and Major John Shaw, 56, of Welburn near Kirkbymoor-side were convicted on July 29 at Scarborough Magistrates Court of breaching the Hunting Act in March 2007 in North Yorkshire.

Jan 2009:  Three men were convicted at Basingstoke Magistrates Court on Monday, December 15. Each defendant was fined £200 and ordered to pay £100 costs. The court also ordered the forfeiture of their lurcher dogs.

Dec 2008:  A Norfolk landowner has been convicted under the Hunting Act 2004 of allowing her property to be used for hare coursing during two organised events, following a prosecution based on footage taken by animal welfare groups including the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) and brought by the RSPCA.

Mary Birbeck, of Little Massingham House, was found guilty yesterday of permitting land at Little Massingham to be used for hare coursing on 12 November 2007, and 8 January 2008, at King’s Lynn Magistrates Court.

Les Anderson, of Lodge Road, Feltwell, was also convicted of two charges of attending a hare coursing event and three of knowingly facilitating such an event. Anderson is chairman of the Kimberly and Wymondham Greyhound Club, which organised the two events at Little Massingham.

May 2008:  A man from Penrith and another from Skipton have been fined £200 each after hunting a fox with a dog and causing a dog to enter a badger sett. John Joseph Bowman, 19, of Lakeland View, Greengill, Penrith and William Smith, 27, of Keighley Road, Skipton pleaded guilty to both charges before Carlisle magistrates. Both men were prosecuted by the RSPCA under the Hunting Act 2004 after admitting their motivation for visiting the land with the dogs had been to find a fox.

January 2008:  Huntsman William Goffe and Whipper-in Gary Bradley of the Minehead Harriers pleaded guilty to illegal hunting in a private prosecution brought by the League. Both were fined £300 and each asked to pay £500 towards legal costs. Gary Bradley, who rode a horse at a monitor, also pleaded guilty to a public order charge and has been fined £100.

December 2007:  Robert Smith and Watson admitted to illegally hunting with dogs. Each defendant was fined £100, with £60 costs.

October 2007:  A gang of seven men: Daniel Dooley, Darren Fairclough, Michael Smith, John Weeder and Paul Hoffman from Liverpool, Adam McIlvenna from Halewood and Kevin Walton from Knowsley were found guilty of hunting rats with dogs. Each was fined £400 and ordered to pay £65 court costs at St. Helen's Magistrates Court.

August 2007:  Three men and a teenager pleaded guilty to illegally hunting foxes and badgers with dogs. Peter Blackhall, Thomas Bell, Adam Pengilley were fined £250 each with £80 costs, and ordered the immediate forfeiture of the Land Rover and the hunting equipment. The 17 year old teenager, who can not be named for legal reasons, was given a conditional discharge for 12 months with £80 costs. A 20-year-old man was given a caution.

July 2007: William Armstrong, Terrierman for the Flint and Denbigh Hunt in Wales, was found guilty of hunting a wild animal with dogs. He was fined £200 with £60 legal costs.

July 2007: James Rooney from High Wycombe was convicted of coursing for hares in Northamptonshire and was fined £200 with £250 costs.

June 2007: Richard Down and Adrian Pillivant from Somerset were convicted of hunting deer with hounds and each fined £500 with £1000 costs. Their appeal has been unsuccessful. Full Text of the appeal judgment (PDF)

February 2007: John Greenwood and Daniel Graves, both of Nelson in Lancashire were found guilty of hunting rabbits with lurchers. Greenwood was fined £100 with £95 costs and Graves was fined £50 with £95 costs.

January 2007: William Winter from Cambridge pleaded guilty at Bury St Edmunds Magistrates Court after being accused of chasing and killing a hare at Wickfield, near Stowmarket, Suffolk. He was fined £500 with £60 costs. [East Anglian Daily Times, 5/3/07]

October 2006: Mark Walsh and Terence Williams from Liverpool pleaded guilty in Chester Magistrates Court of hunting for foxes. Williams was fined £500 and Walsh was fined £500 with £2,896.07 costs payable to the RSPCA who prosecuted him. The court also ordered the forfeiture of one dog plus spades and collars. In November, Paul Kelly of Liverpool pleaded guilty for the same offence and was fined £500 with £2,846.09 costs and also had his terrier confiscated. In March 2007, Paul McMullen of Bootle was convicted for the same offence and was fined £750, ordered to pay £5,000 in costs and ordered to hand two dogs into RSPCA care.

August 2006: Tony Wright, huntsman with the Exmoor Foxhounds, was found guilty of illegal hunting in a private prosecution taken out by the League. He appealed the verdict and was later acquitted.

October 2005: Adam Pengilley was charged with offences against the Hunting Act 2004 and pleaded guilty at South Sefton Magistrates Court on the 6 October 2005. He admitted that he had been hunting rabbits on the estate without permission from the landowners and therefore his hunting with dogs was not exempt. He was fined £155 with £35 costs.

Successful prosecutions under the Protection of Wildlife Mammals (Scotland) Act.

March 2004: Stephen Scott, from Hawick, was fined £300 at Jedburgh Sheriff Court for sending two terriers into a fox earth and using a lurcher to pursue and kill the fox. He was fined £300.

December 2003: David Murray from Dundee was found guilty after using two dogs to lure foxes into a trap. He was fined £150.

Successful convictions for hare coursing:

Six men have pleaded guilty to charges of harecoursing at Harlow Magistrates’ Court. Alfred Harris, 21, George Stevens, 20, Danny Harris, 21, Robert Harris, 22, Sam Harris, 20, all from South East London, and Shaun Clark, 37, from Basildon.

Five of the men were ordered to pay a £275 fine, £100 in costs and £15 victim surcharge payment and the sixth, Clark, received a £350 fine, £100 costs and £15 victim surcharge. The car used at the scene will be crushed by police.

January 2006: Alec Reid of Croy, near Nairn, and Stephen Stewart of Inverness pleaded guilty to deliberately hunting hares with dogs in a field at Alves, near Forres. Reid and Stewart were each fined £250.

December 2005: Colin Stewart, who was already in prison for an earlier offence, had 60 days added to his sentence. Booth and Leslie were sentenced to 80 hours' community service while Sim was fined £300 and Stewart was put on probation for a year.

September 2005: Kevin Leslie of Aberdeen, Steven Booth, Michael Sim, Colin Stewart and Donald Stewart all pleaded guilty at Stonehaven Sheriff Court of hare coursing.

In June 2005: James MacDonald, Samuel MacDonald and Shaun Mahon from Kirkcaldy were convicted of hare coursing in September 2004. James MacDonald was banned from keeping dogs for three years at Perth Sheriff Court and was ordered to carry out 100 hours of community service. Samuel Macdonald and Shaun Mahon were fined £250 each.