CONVICTED (2024) | huntsman Edward Michael Bell, born c. 1993, of West Norfolk Hunt Kennels, Necton, Swaffham PE37 8DL and ‘whipper-in’ assistant Adam Egginton, born 15 May 2001, of Walls Grove, White-Ladies-Aston, Worcester WR7 4QJ – for illegal fox hunting at two separate events.
West Norfolk Hunt employees Edward “Mikey” Bell and Adam Egginton, who both lived at the hunt kennels in Necton, Swaffham, were found guilty of hunting a wild mammal with dogs.
Joint hunt masters Andrew Thomas Kendall, born August 1956, of
The Old Rectory, Henstead, Beccles, Suffolk NR34 7LA, and Robert Edward Quintin Gurney, born July 1969, of Bawdeswell Hall, Bawdeswell, Dereham, Norfolk NR20 4SA were acquitted of all charges.
In one incident, which took place on 20 February 2023 in Hingham, Norfolk, a fox was “pulled to pieces” by a pack of 38 hounds in a family’s back garden. All of this was captured on the family’s CCTV, which also showed a man – whose identity the four men on trial refused to reveal – jumping over a fence to remove the animal’s remains as riders on horseback waited by the road outside.
A victim impact statement from the residents said: “Emotionally it is extremely distressing that we had to clean up the aftermath of the hounds ripping apart a poor lonesome fox on our patio.
“The hunters kindly left us the pleasure of removing the intestines, kidneys, fox fur, and blood from our blood-stained patio.
“I had to explain this to my three year old. Why should she be exposed to this in her home?”
Another hunt took place on 8 February 2023 at Tittleshall, with footage showing dogs on the trail of a live fox.
Prosecutors argued that on both “trail” hunts dogs were dangerously out of control, causing criminal damage and killing a fox.
District Judge Matthew Bone said he took an adverse inference from the fact all four defendants either refused to name or failed to identify a man who climbed a fence to retrieve the carcass of the fox killed in a family garden in Hingham.
But he dismissed all charges against joint hunt masters Andrew Kendall and Robert Gurney.
He also dismissed the charges of criminal damage, and said it had not been proven that the hounds were dangerously out of control.
But he said the charge of illegal hunting against Bell and Egginton had been proved beyond reasonable doubt.
He said Bell, who is married with two children, and Egginton knew there was a fox and almost immediately diverted the dogs in the direction of the fox.
“I simply do not see how they failed to see the fox,” he added.
Of the incident at Hingham, he said: “What the dogs did on that patio was utterly distasteful and Bell and Egginton will be held criminally liable.”
District Judge Bone, sentencing, said: “Mr Bell, in particular, you should have known better.
“You didn’t just hunt once, you hunted twice, and on the second occasion an animal that parliament legislated should not be killed by a dog was killed.
“That has been the law for almost 20 years and yet on my verdict on both occasions while you may have been following trails, you took the opportunity to act unlawfully.”
Sentencing | fined £500 for each offence plus court costs and victim surcharge, taking the total to £1,700 each.