CONVICTED (2011) | hare coursers Eddie Cole, born 20 February 1982, and Matthew James Wenman, born 10 June 1986, both of South Oaks Caravan Park, Dorking Road, Chilworth, Guildford GU4 8NS but with links to Rudgwick, Horsham, West Sussex Matthew Giles, born c. 1979, of Hilltops Caravan Park, Stovolds Hill, Cranleigh GU6 8LE, Tony Frenny Giles, born 22 April 1985 of Twin Oaks, Knowle Lane, Cranleigh GU6 8JW and Nelson Hedges, born c. 1987, of Guildford Road, Normandy, Guildford GU3 2AR
A group of illegal hare coursers who drove 150 miles to let their dogs chase hares in north Suffolk were fined and banned from driving in February 2011.
Eddie Cole, Matthew Giles, Tony Giles, Nelson Hedges and Matthew Wenman were each fined £1,000 and banned from driving for 56 days after they pleaded guilty to hunting a wild mammal with a dog.
Magistrates heard the five defendants had driven up from Surrey and Sussex with five dogs on December 12, 2010, and allowed their dogs to chase hares in a field in Flixton, near Bungay.
At least one hare was killed by the pack of dogs, which included a spring spaniel, a terrier and a seven-month-old puppy.
Colette Griffiths, prosecuting said the five men were found by police stretched out in a line as the dogs chased a hare which was killed.
Police had arrived at the field after a farmer in another field had noticed the men acting suspiciously and alerted officers.
In mitigation the court heard the men were all “extremely remorseful” and recognised “the consequences of their actions”.
Sentencing | fined £1,000 each plus £100 court costs.
Update | January 2020
Nelson Hedges was jailed for two months for dangerous driving after leading a 100mph police chase.
Officers from Cambridgeshire Police suspected Hedges was hare coursing in his silver Mazda Tribute after members of the public reported him.
The force’s Rural Crime Action Team (RCAT) spotted the vehicle, covered in mud and with dogs in the boot, driving through the village of Iselham, Cambs.
Police parked across the road and signalled Hedges to pull over but he swerved round the car, mounting a pavement, and sped off.
He drove at speeds of nearly 100mph in a 40mph zone and darted across two junctions without stopping.
In a bid to evade police capture, he even drove onto a field causing around £200 worth of damage to crops.
He was arrested after his vehicle came to a halt when police blocked it in another field.
Hedges was also disqualified from driving for 19 months, with an extended retest, after pleading guilty to dangerous driving and criminal damage,