CONVICTED (2021) | poachers Albert Eastwood Sr, born c. 1975, from Redhill and Charles Lee, born c. 1985, from Sevenoaks
Albert Eastwood, left, and Charles Lee were caught poaching.
Traveller Albert Eastwood, a notorious rogue trader with multiple convictions for ripping off the elderly (as does his son, Albert Eastwood Jr) and accomplice Charles Lee led police officers on a pursuit after being spotted in East Cambridgeshire.
A member of the public saw the pair acting suspiciously on fields near Swaffham Bulbeck on November 6, 2019.
They were then seen leaving the area by Cambridgeshire Police’s Rural Crime Action Team (RCAT) in a Volvo S40.
But officers soon caught up with the pair and Eastwood was found to have driven at double the speed limit through Bottisham.
He stopped the car and was arrested.
Albert Eastwood Sr (left) and associates. Source: Facebook
In March 2021 both Eastwood and Lee pleaded guilty to daytime trespass in pursuit of game (poaching).
They were handed a two-year criminal behaviour order (CBO) and ordered to pay £594 in fines and costs.
Albert Eastwood Sr and Jr (middle and right)
Eastwood was sentenced to six months in prison, suspended for 24 months, 250 hours of unpaid work and a 30-day rehabilitation activity requirement.
He was also ordered to pay £2,500 in costs, disqualified from driving for 18 months and to complete an extended retest.
CONVICTED (2021) | Paul-Michael Bowes, born 2 January 1991, of 21 Rochester Close, Bishop Auckland DL14 0RJ – stood on a hare while his dog mauled it.
Bowes was banned from owning animals for five years after what a judge described as “absolutely appalling animal cruelty”.
He was convicted of hunting with a dog at Rise in East Yorkshire and causing unnecessary suffering to a brown hare, by standing on the animal while his dog mauled it.
Sentencing at Hull Magistrates, district judge Zoe Passfield said she had seen footage of what had happened to the hare during the trial.
Mitigating, Alison Downs said Bowes accepted that on January 2 2020 “a hare was chased and killed and he dispatched the hare having taken it from the mouth of the dog”.
Miss Downs said the 30-year-old, who had a previous conviction for lamping or night poaching, was the breadwinner for his family.
She said the case had been a “wake up call” adding: “This young man has learned his lesson and got rid of his dogs”.
Sentencing: 18-week suspended jail sentence; 200 hours of unpaid work; £628 in costs and charges. 12-month driving ban. Disqualified from owning animals for five years (expires October 2026).
CONVICTED (2021) | hare coursers Shane Aaron Manyweathers, born 6 May 1992, of 23 Frobisher Avenue, Poole BH12 5AW and Stefan Lewis Cooper, born 10 December 1991, of 75 Rockley Road, Poole BH15 4EZ
Hare coursers Shane Manyweathers (right) and Stefan Cooper.
Manyweathers and Cooper, who are travellers, were each fined more than £1,000 after being convicted of poaching in the New Forest.
Stefan Lee Cooper. Picture: Facebook
They were prosecuted after police received reports that hare coursing was taking place near the Lower Bisterne Farm Estate in Ringwood.
Shane Aaron Manyweathers. Picture: Facebook
A police spokesman said a local resident was walking his dog when he saw two men in a nearby field.
“He grew suspicious after he witnessed them flushing a hare and then releasing a dog in order to pursue the hare.
“The two men attempted to flee the scene in their vehicle, which was parked close by, but were blocked from leaving by estate associates and eventually fled on foot.
“Following police enquiries, the men were arrested a short while later. They were then reported for summons on suspicion of poaching offences – namely trespassing in pursuit of game.”
The pair were both convicted of poaching and each ordered to pay a fine of £1,050.
CONVICTED (2021) | hare coursers Thomas Joseph Connors, born February 1978, of Carew Road, Wallington, Sutton SM6, Patrick Rooney, born c. 1985, of Croydon Road, Keston, Bromley BR2, Anthony Connors, born 31 January 1987, of Rutland Avenue, High Wycombe HP12, and James Raymond Bell, born October 2000, of Oaksview Park, 12 Murcott, Kidlington, Oxfordshire OX5 2RH
Thomas Connors, James Bell, Anthony Connors and Patrick Rooney all received fines and Criminal Behaviour Orders.
Officers from Cambridgeshire Constabulary’s Rural Crime Action Team (RCAT) caught the four men, who were also with a 12-year-old boy, driving through a field in Abbots Ripton, Cambridgeshire, looking for hares.
James Bell
On seeing the police, the group drove off through wildlife conservation areas and, after a short pursuit through the village, drove onto another field before stopping.
All four were interviewed and previous poaching convictions were revealed.
The vehicle was seized and the men were ordered to leave the county.
Anthony Connors
They all pleaded guilty to daytime trespass in pursuit of game (poaching) at Cambridge Magistrates’ Court on September 22, 2021, and were each handed a Criminal Behaviour Order (CBO) lasting three years.
The order prevents them from (while in Cambridgeshire, Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex):
being on private agricultural or farm land, or any yards or working areas associated with that land, in or on any vehicle, or on foot whilst in possession of one or more sight hound or x-sight hound breed, unless the land owner’s written permission has been obtained beforehand
Jim Bell (left) and Anthony Connors (right)
All four were also ordered to pay £178 in compensation to the owner of the fields and wildlife conservation areas.
In addition, Thomas Connors was fined £150, while Anthony Connors, Rooney and Bell were fined £200.
CONVICTED (2021) | serial wildlife persecutor John Alan Langan, born June 1986, of 12 The Hawthorns, Great Ayton, Middlesbrough TS9 6BA and Thomas Agar McDonald, born c. 1986, most recently of Riverside Nurseries, Stokesley, Middlesbrough TS9 5JQ – caught hare coursing.
Thomas Agar McDonald
On the afternoon of Saturday 23 January 2021, a vigilant member of the public called police to report that poachers were chasing hares with a dog in a field near Chapel Haddlesey, Selby.
Officers from North Yorkshire Police attended immediately. The suspects made off from the area in this Honda CR-V, and in the process drove through a red light. Officers followed them, and stopped them in South Milford, where they were both arrested, and their dog and car seized.
In court, Thomas McDonald, a convicted drug dealer, and John Alan Langan, who has racked up numerous similar offences, both pleaded guilty to hunting a wild mammal with dogs. McDonald also admitted an offence of failing to comply with a road traffic sign.
McDonald was fined a total of £239 for the hunting offence, as well as £100 and three points for going through the red light. Langan was fined £239 for the hunting offence, a forfeiture order was placed on the dog, and he was disqualified for five years from owning, keeping or being in control of dog.
In February 2018 John Langan was convicted of hare coursing alongside Tommy Jaffray from Thorntree in east Middlesbrough, a member of an organised crime gang currently serving a 13-year prison sentence for drug dealing.
Tommy Jaffray
In September 2017 Langan and Jaffray were spotted hare coursing by Lincolnshire Police
In March 2010, he was arrested in Bridlington and charged with hunting a wild mammal with dogs.
He was found to be involved in a high number of other incidents of poaching and hare coursing between 2005 and 2010.
The ASBO lasted for three years, but he was again caught in the cruel act and fined at Lincoln Magistrates’ Court .
Two lurcher dogs, called Lucky and Spencer (pictured above), were seized and later rehomed.
Both Langan and Jaffray were fined £120 and ordered to pay £300 costs and £30 charges.
Both received driving bans and were given criminal behaviour orders (CBO).
Chief superintendent Mark Housley of Lincolnshire Police said: “We’ve waited for a result like this for some time but I’m very pleased now we have got it.
“Here in Lincolnshire we know that by seizing dogs we stop people wanting to come here for hare coursing, and it also prevents all the violence towards farmers and the damage to their property that goes with it.
“People living in urban areas wouldn’t believe how bad this is – it’s soul destroying for farmers and their families, many of who I know have struggled to sleep at night because of threats made by hare coursers.
“The welfare of the dogs is also very important to us.
“Only a week ago we came across a dog that had been left in a field to die as the hare coursers left her so they could escape from police officers.
“Our officers were horrified to see she had been fatally struck on her head.
“We will continue to make every effort to tackle this cruel and supposed ‘sport’, and get the animals into the caring home a dog should have.”
CONVICTED (2021) | poachers Lois Rupert Nicholas Whiteley (aka Loy Whiteley), born 28 August 1996, of 11 Marvel Street, Hull HU9 1DS, Jason Thacker, born 11 February 1992, of 8 Forber Avenue, Hull HU9 4RG, and Jordan Rispin, born 13 April 1997, of Portobello Street, Hull HU9 3NT
The trio pleaded guilty to poaching offences after being caught trespassing on farmland between Humbleton and Sproatley in East Yorkshire at around 11.30pm on February 18, 2021.
They stepped on to the land for the purpose of gaming and were caught in possession of equipment commonly used for poaching.
All three entered guilty pleas under Section 1 of the Night Poaching Act 1828.
They were each ordered to pay a £360 fine and £85 in costs.
Rural Task Force Police Constable Kevin Jones of Humberside Police said: “I hope this conviction sends out another strong message to those who are involved in wildlife crime.
“I am grateful to the local members of Farmwatch for their assistance and partnership throughout this investigation which has resulted in another conviction under Poaching legislation.
“We will not tolerate this illegal activity and will continue to pro-actively work alongside our partners and farm watch community tackling these crimes.
The men convicted of poaching are already well known in the east Hull area for bloodsports such as lamping. They are allegedly part of a gang that routinely engages in illegal hunting with dogs, targeting foxes and badgers. They also reportedly goad their dogs into attacking cats and many cats have been killed or gone missing in the area.
Another member, Callum Pullen, born 5 May 1999, of 11 Gainford Grove, Hull HU9 4ND has just been charged with badger baiting. We understand he has pleaded guilty and will be sentenced at a later date.
CONVICTED (2021) | serial wildlife criminal Daniel Ratchford, born 9 December 1984, of 4 Stratford Street, Standish, Wigan WN6 7AH – caught hunting wild animals with dogs despite a lifetime ban imposed in 2014
Daniel Ratchford was made the subject of a five-year court order banning him from vast areas of Lancashire and Merseyside after being found guilty of four poaching offences; hunting wild animals with dogs; and five breaches of a Dog Disqualification Order.
Ratchford is now excluded from entering large parts of West Lancashire and Sefton districts. This includes all rural areas between Ormskirk and the Sefton coast, between Ormskirk and Crosby, Maghull, Kirkby and between Wigan and Lancashire around the Douglas Valley.
It also prevents Ratchford from being part of a group of two or more people who are in control of any dog anywhere in England and Wales.
He is banned from trespassing on any land and from acting in a manner that causes or is likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress.
In addition to the Criminal Behaviour Order (CBO), he was also handed a 32-week custodial sentence suspended for two years; a 16-week 7pm to 6am tagged curfew; 50-day Rehabilitation Order; and a lifetime prohibition from keeping dogs. All of his dogs were forfeited to police for rehoming.
An investigation into Ratchford began after police received information that he was committing poaching offences on private farmland, allowing his lurcher-cross dogs to kill wild rabbits and hares.
As a result, Lancashire’s South Rural Task Force, along with Merseyside Police’s Wildlife Crime Unit and RSPCA Special Operations Unit, executed a warrant at Ratchford’s property in the early hours of the Thursday, March 11, 2021.
Five dogs were found inside, in breach of his lifetime disqualification which he was given in 2014, after being convicted alongside John Daly, Reece Welsh and Ryan Kennedy of causing unnecessary suffering to a dog. For this offence, he was sentenced to twelve weeks’ imprisonment.
Speaking after the sentencing, PC Paddy Stewart, Rural, Wildlife & Heritage Crime Officer in Lancashire’s South Rural Task Force said: “Ratchford has shown absolutely no regard for animals’ rights to live peacefully in the wild.
“Instead, he allowed his dogs to cruelly maim and kill rabbits and hares.
“The fact is that offenders like Ratchford know that animals like hares don’t die instantly after one bite from a dog, they are agile are often are unsuccessfully grabbed several times, causing graphic injuries and distress. And that’s if they survive; the vast majority die suffering and screaming in agonising pain.
“This is a serious criminal offence, with often misunderstood and far-reaching impacts on our rural communities and I hope that this result shows those who commit these types of offences, whether that be against wildlife or farming, we have a dedicated team of officers and we will find you.”
PC Stewart added: “We need the rural communities of West Lancashire and Merseyside to help us enforce Ratchford’s CBO and report if they see him committing any breaches of the order, to please call us on 101.”
CONVICTED (2020) | traveller Jason Price, born c. 1997, of Burnaby Road, Stoke on Trent ST6 – shot and killed eight pheasants with an air rifle on private land
The owner was alerted to the crime after hearing gunshots and then spotting Price loading something into the back of his van.
North Staffordshire Justice Centre heard police later found the 22-year-old with eight dead pheasants in his vehicle.
Prosecutor Sue Hayers said: “The injured party was at home at 9pm on January 14 when he heard what he thought sounded like silenced rifle shots. He saw a light shine in the trees and formed the opinion someone was outside.
“He saw a van parked up the road and saw someone throw something into the rear of the van. The person was holding a rifle. The vehicle pulled away.
“Police later located the van and the defendant. They recovered an air rifle, pellets and eight pheasants from the vehicle.”
When he was arrested, Price claimed he did not know the Whitmore land was private and said he intended to eat the birds.
The court heard the landowner, the Cavanagh-Mainwairing family, rears pheasants to be used in licensed shoots held on the estate, and the theft left them £320 out of pocket.
Price pleaded guilty to theft and a charge of trespassing at night with an air rifle to destroy game.
The offences put him in breach of a conditional discharge he received for another theft, when he was collecting scrap metal and took property that the owner had not agreed he could have.
Mohammed Fiaz, mitigating, said: “He has written a letter of apology for his behaviour. The reason Mr Price took the pheasants was for his own consumption. He wasn’t going to sell them on. He purchased the rifle legitimately.
“He was working as a labourer but unfortunately he lost that job a couple of weeks ago.”
Sentencing: 12-month community order with 80 hours of unpaid work; ordered to pay £320 to the victim. He must also pay a £120 fine for breaching the conditional discharge.
CONVICTED (2020) | Scott Hayes, born 16/02/1989 of Blakewood Drive, Blaxton, Doncaster DN9 3GX and Christopher Darwin, born 15/10/1991 of Laycock Avenue, Gringley-on-the-Hill, Doncaster DN10 4SA – used lurcher dogs to hunt and kill a deer.
Scott Hayes and Chris Darwin were found guilty of poaching offences.
The pair were spotted by police coming off private land with lurcher dogs in the village of Haxey, North Lincolnshire, on December 24, 2019. The body of a freshly killed male Roe deer was discovered nearby and further investigations revealed its injuries were consistent with it being killed by dogs.
Chris DarwinScott Hayes
Chief Inspector Paul Butler said, “This court result should send out a very clear message to those who commit wildlife offences that we take these offences seriously and will seek other sanctions available to the courts.
“The obtaining of [Criminal Behaviour Orders] in this case provides other police forces with a straight forward tool to deal with these men if they choose to commit wildlife offences with the use of the type of dog involved. I would like to thank the Wildlife Crime Officers involved in bringing this case before the court, the CPS Prosecutors involved and also the court for taking such offences seriously”.
Vicious bloodthirsty predator Scott Hayes
Deer poaching is a problem in many areas across the UK. It can involve extreme cruelty to the deer targeted, especially when dogs are used to chase and drag them down. Many offenders operate across several counties, travelling long distances to target specific hdilocations.
Chris Darwin
The use of lurcher type dogs features in most poaching offences committed during both the day and night.
Chief Inspector Butler added: “Poaching activity is a blight on the countryside and many of those involved are linked to other offending. Members of rural communities often feel vulnerable and intimidated by poachers who can be aggressive or offer violence if challenged.
“If you witness suspected poaching offences taking place, particularly where lurcher type dogs are being used please report it to the police via 999.”
Sentencing: 12-month community order of 300 hours of unpaid work; ordered to pay £350 court costs; made subject to a three-year Criminal Behaviour Order (CBO) preventing them from entering the Humberside Police area.
CONVICTED (2019) | serial wildlife persecutor Scott Matthew Cochrane, born 9 November 1989, of 4 Yarrow Close, Poole BH12 4FL – found with dead rabbits, lurcher-type dogs and steel ball bearings.
Repeat offender Cochrane was back in court after breaching a five-year criminal behaviour order imposed in September 2015 after a video of him pulling the head off a live wood pigeon was uploaded to Facebook. He admitted being in possession of a wild animal and for hunting a wild mammal with a dog, an offence under Section 1 of the Hunting Act 2004.
Cochrane, whose Facebook account is riddled with boasts about his ‘kills’, is now prohibited from entering many rural areas in Dorset, Wiltshire and Hampshire. The areas include south of the A35 in the Purbeck and Dorchester area, rural northeast Dorset up to the M4 corridor in north Wiltshire and parts of the New Forest in Hampshire.
This will prevent him from using routes such as the A338 from Ringwood into Wiltshire, A354 from Puddletown to Salisbury and A350 from Wimborne to parts of Wiltshire, which all feature in hotspots for such rural crime.
At 11.41pm on Saturday October 5, 2019, officers were called to a rural location in the Blandford area in relation to suspected poaching in fields. They located a van and saw two men – one of whom was the defendant.
There were two lurcher-type dogs with them and they had a high powered lamp. They were also found to be carrying dead rabbits. A search of their vehicle located a catapult and steel ball bearings, as well as further dead rabbits.
The new criminal behaviour order will last for three years.
Cochrane must not:
• Act or incite others to behave in an anti-social manner, that is to say a manner that causes harassment, alarm or distress to any persons.
• Use or incite others to use threatening, intimidating, insulting or abusive words or behaviour in any place to which the public has access.
• Be in possession of a wild animal, wild bird or part of a wild animal or bird living or dead.
• Be in possession of a catapult or shot, such as ball bearings, or to be in a vehicle with a catapult or such shot in a place to which the public have access or private land as a trespasser.
• Allow a dog under his control off a lead, except on private land with the land owners written permission.
• Be in a vehicle with a dog traditionally used for the purpose of hare and deer coursing, such as a Lurcher, Greyhound, Saluki, or a cross breed of these varieties unless travelling to an emergency vets appointment.
• Own dogs traditionally used for the purposes of hare and deer coursing such as Lurchers, Greyhounds, Saluki or a cross breed of these varieties.
Police Constable Claire Dinsdale, Rural Crime Co-ordinator for Dorset Police, said: “Coursing with dogs and poaching is a national priority for both rural and wildlife crime and there are many repeat victims across the UK.
“This issue is not about ‘one for the pot’ but part of a network of persistent criminals who will threaten and intimidate our rural communities if challenged and cause thousands of pounds worth of damage to crops, gates and other property.
“They train their dogs on rabbits, hares and even on deer, with no regard for the welfare of wildlife or their dogs and they are willing to travel vast distances into other counties.
“Dorset Police is part of the national strategy between 22 police forces, Operation Galileo, where civil and criminal powers will be used to prevent such offending by hare coursers and protect vulnerable victims.
“I hope this sends a clear message that coursing and other such crimes are not tolerated and we will take robust action against anyone suspected of such an offence.
“This now varied order is a first of its kind for rural crime, in that it bans the defendant from large areas of rural land across three counties and it restricts his ownership of certain dog breeds and cross breeds.”
Sentencing: eight weeks in prison, suspended for 12 months. Victim surcharge of £122 and £85 costs. The other man was given a caution. Three-year criminal behaviour order.
Dorset Police announced on their Facebook page that Cochrane has been jailed after breaching a criminal behaviour order that banned him from being in possession of a catapult.
He was sentenced to 12 weeks in prison on Friday 6 March 2020 after admitting breaching a criminal behaviour order and a suspended sentence order.
On Wednesday 25 December 2019 Dorset Police was made aware of a live stream video that had been uploaded to social media that showed Cochrane sat in the passenger seat of a 4×4 vehicle in a rural location.
The video showed Cochrane pull out a catapult and pretend to fire it at the person who was filming. The occupants then stop the vehicle when they notice something in a field and the video stops moments later.
Cochrane was arrested on Friday 3 January 2020 and admitted that the video had been filmed on Christmas Day 2019 and confirmed it was him in the video. He did not disclose who else was in the video.
When he was sentenced on Friday 6 March 2020 the eight-week suspended term was activated and Cochrane was also sentenced to a further four weeks in prison for breaching the criminal behaviour order, resulting in a total sentence of 12 weeks in prison.
Police Constable Claire Dinsdale, Rural Crime Co-ordinator for Dorset Police, said: “Scott Cochrane showed a blatant disregard for court orders that were in place to protect wild animals as he had previously been sentenced for coursing offences.
“Coursing with dogs and poaching is a national priority for both rural and wildlife crime and there are many repeat victims across the UK.
Update | October 2020
Cochrane was back in court where he admitted breaching a criminal behaviour order and an offence of vehicle interference.
He was sentenced to 20 weeks in prison, suspended for 18 months.
At 7.20pm on Friday, August 14, 2020 a wildlife camera that had been installed in a field on private land near Wimborne was activated.
The owner examined the footage and saw a man walking around the front of a horsebox trailer and using a metal pin to try and force the lock.
The ramp at the rear was also pulled down, with the total value of damage caused to the trailer estimated at £500.
After the victim posted the footage on social media a member of the public identified Cochrane as the offender.
An officer also viewed the footage and was able to identify the defendant.
The area where the camera was located was one of those that Cochrane was banned from entering under the terms of a criminal behaviour order imposed in November 2019 for a period of three years.
The order prevented Cochrane from entering a number of rural areas of Dorset, Wiltshire and Hampshire as well as a number of other conditions.
In addition to the suspended sentence, Cochrane was also ordered to pay £500 in compensation to the owner of the horsebox.
Rural and wildlife crime inspector Darren Stanton said: “Scott Cochrane is a repeat offender who continues to commit crimes even though he has been made the subject of a court order.
“I hope this case demonstrates that officers from the local neighbourhood policing team and our rural crime team will work together to take action against those who are found to breach these orders and bring them before the courts.”
We collate data on animal cruelty convictions in the UK
