CONVICTED (2021) | senior huntsman Mark Hankinson, born 14 November 1960, of Frampton Farm, Chetnole Road, Leigh. Sherborne DT9 6HJ – encouraged illegal fox hunting in online talk.
Mark Hankinson, a director of the Masters of Foxhounds Association was found guilty of encouraging or assisting others to commit an offence under the Hunting Act.
Hankinson was caught in a leaked online training webinar telling hunts how to hunt illegally.
Recordings of Hankinson speaking to around 100 senior hunters in two private webinars in August 2020 were leaked online.
The prosecution argued he was giving advice on how to avoid the law.
The defence said he was advising what to do if saboteurs disrupt legal hunts.
At Westminster court Deputy Chief Magistrate Tan Ikram said “I am sure that the defendant through his words was giving advice on how to illegally hunt with dogs.”
“In my judgement he was clearly encouraging the mirage of trail laying to act as cover for illegal hunting,” he added.
Mr Hankinson was fined £1,000 along with a contribution of £2,500 towards legal costs.
The Masters of Foxhounds Association said it was considering an appeal of the verdict.
“We will be setting up a review which will be conducted to ensure that hunts are in a position to offer reassurances to all landowners and other stakeholders that hunts are operating within the law,” said Chairman of the Masters of Foxhounds Association Andrew Osborne.
The videos of Hankinson came to light when they were leaked to anti-hunting groups and then posted online.
The trial at Westminster Magistrates Court took place over three days in September 2021. Clips of the video recordings were played in court.
The case rested on the context of the advice Hankinson gave in the webinars.
In the recordings he told participants “if you’ve got saboteurs out with you in any shape or form we need to have clear, visible, plausible trail laying being done throughout the day.”
“It’s a lot easier to create a smokescreen if you’ve got more than one trail layer operating.”
Hankinson told the court that when he said “smokescreen” he was giving advice on laying dummy trails to confuse potential saboteurs and allow legitimate hunting to continue.
Prosecuting barrister Gregory Gordon said in his closing submission that Hankinson was offering advice on how to hunt illegally “behind a smoke screen of trail hunting”.
“His words were clear, his advice was capable of encouraging hunts to commit illegal hunting, and his intention was to encourage illegal hunting,” Mr Gordon said.
Deputy Chief Magistrate Tan Ikram concluded: “Mr Hankinson’s advice that trail laying needed to be “plausible” was only necessary if it was a “sham and a fiction””
“It wasn’t just bad language as he suggested, there was a clear and common thread throughout the two separate webinars.”
“A specific aggravating factor was that you were speaking to large number of people. Your words potentially had an impact throughout the whole country.”
The League Against Cruel Sports said the case “has proven beyond doubt that trail hunting is nothing but a sham”.
It continued: “It’s hunting dressed up as something illegal, it uses this “smokescreen” [which] is nothing but an attempt to deceive somebody, an attempt to disguise illegal or nefarious activities. And this court case has proved that.”
Following the police investigation into Hankinson, a number of organisations withdrew their permission to allow hunts to cross their land. That included the National Trust, Forestry England, the Lake District National Park and Natural Resources Wales.
The court verdict is likely to lead to a review of this position. A motion to permanently ban trail hunting on National Trust land will be debated this month.
Update July 2022
It was reported that Hankinson’s appeal against conviction was successful.
The court considered whether Hankinson’s words were intentionally encouraging an offence.
Appeal Judge Gregory Perrins said “someone listening to his words might well have taken the view that he was encouraging illegal hunting”.
But Hankinson said he was referring to the practice of laying dummy trails to fool saboteurs.
Judge Perrins said: “We accept his role within the Hunting Office was to ensure compliance with the law and the Hunting Office itself is committed to lawful hunting.”
He added: “In those circumstances it would be unusual if they now took the decision to host a series of webinars which included advice on how to work around the ban.”
After the decision, the League Against Cruel Sports urged the government to strengthen the Hunting Act.
“The appeal result changes nothing in terms of our position, because only by strengthening the Hunting Act, by closing its many loopholes and outlawing so-called trail hunting, can illegal hunting be properly stopped and those determined to carry on persecuting wildlife brought to justice,” said Andy Knott, the league’s chief executive.
Additional information:
Mark Hankinson brought about his own downfall after speaking at a webinar attended by the morally bankrupt Hunting Office and over 100 from the wider fox hunting community but he was not alone.
Other speakers included:
- Benjamin Mancroft, Chairman of the Masters of Foxhounds Association (MFHA) – a Tory peer
- Richard Tyacke – Director, Association of Masters of Harriers and Beagles (AMHB)
- Richard Gurney – senior master of the Old Surrey Burstow and West Kent Hunt
- Paul Jelley – a retired Avon & Somerset Police officer
- Phil Davies – Countryside Alliance, retired Chief Inspector with Dyfed-Powys Police
- Will Day – Vice Chairman of the New Forest Hounds
- Alice Bowden – Director, the Hunting Office.
More than 100 hunt staff and masters of hunts attended the online webinars in August 2020. YouTube have removed the footage following a “copyright claim” by the Hunting Office but you can still view it here.
