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) | Seward Folland, born c. 1946, of Twenty Acres, Puddington, Tiverton EX16 9PE and Nathan Bowes, born c. 1995, of the Bothy Kennels, Station Road, Brixworth, Northampton NN6 9BP – filmed interfering with a badger sett as they tried to flush out a fox
Folland and Bowes were filmed by hunt saboteurs as they blocked entrances to badger setts at Chulmleigh, Devon, in November 2019.
Bowes was convicted of two offences, and fined £940.
Folland was fined a total of £732 for one offence.
Both men, from the Eggesford Hunt, said the setts were inactive at the time of the incident, but Deputy District Judge Roderick Hine ruled they were in use.
Bowes, who was a kennel man, told the court he was there to “humanely dispatch” a fox which had gone to ground.
Terrier man Folland, with 45 years’ experience, said Bowes laid nets to “bolt the fox in the net to be humanely destroyed”.
Judge Hine said their convictions were based on the grounds of “recklessness rather than deliberate interference”, and said they failed to carry out proper inspections of the setts as they were in a “hurry to get the fox out”.
Greg Gordon, prosecuting, told the court that four hunt monitors were watching the Eggesford Hunt when they filmed the two defendants in woodland.
He said both men were trying to flush out a fox and the footage showed them blocking the entrance to the setts with earth, debris and nets.
Alex West, defending both men, said Folland had made a mistake and said the conviction for Bowes would be significant as he still works in the hunting sector.
CONVICTED (2021) | Robert David Nevill, born 11 August 1988, of 95 Shaftsbury Avenue, Woodlands, Doncaster DN6 7TH – attacked a hunt saboteur group’s vehicle with the body of a dead fox
Robert Nevill with partner Lisa Youngman
Robert Nevill, supporter of the Badsworth and Bramham Moor Hunt and an animal persecutor in his own right, was caught on video smashed the poor animal’s remains repeatedly against the window of the vehicle while horrified members of the Sheffield Hunt Saboteurs screamed at him to stop.
The shocking footage shows other hunt thugs goading Nevill on. These included his partner Lisa Youngman (aka Lisa Frost), born 18 December 1979, her son Morgan Teale (aka Morgan Kmiotek), born 20 August 2000, his then partner Molly Marisa, plus Adam Oakes, born c. 1992, of Finlay Road, Rotherham, and Adam Harrison of 22 Welfare Avenue, Doncaster DN12 3NH.
Hunt thugs that appeared in the shocking video that led to Nevill’s convictionPolice mugshot of Adam Oakes. This was taken after he was charged (and later convicted) of driving a quad bike towards a police officer.
Only Nevill was charged, however, and in May 2021 he was sentenced after pleading guilty to offences of ‘criminal damage’ and an ‘act of outraging public decency’.
A wildlife persecutor in his own right, Nevill regularly uploads photos of his ‘kills’ to social media
He was ordered to pay a total of £460 in fines, costs and compensation and to carry out 360 hours of unpaid work.
Source: Sheffield Hunt Saboteurs Facebook post of 19 May 2021.
Additional information
Robert Nevill, Lisa Youngman and Morgan Teal run a business named R&L Landscaping. Their business Facebook page is currently deactivated.
CONVICTED (2019) | Kimblewick Hunt terrier-men Ian James Kirby Parkinson, born c. 1955, of Folly Farm, Lower Road, Haddenham, Aylesbury HP17 8TP, and Mark Anthony Vincent, born c. 1966, of Kennel Cottages, Kimblewick, Aylesbury HP17 9TA – pulled out a captive fox by his tail from an underground artificial sett and released him into the path of hounds.
Ian Parkinson (left) and Mark Vincent of the Kimblewick Hunt dragged a captive fox from an artificial sett and threw her into the path of foxhounds
Ian Parkinson and Mark Vincent were found guilty of one count of causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal.
Covert footage obtained by the Hunt Saboteurs’ Association in January 2019 appeared to show a fox being held captive, trapped in pipes underground.
The court heard that one man could be seen assembling a rod from pipes, which the association said was used to push the fox into position.
Mark Vincent is employed by the Kimblewick Hunt
Another man then appeared to forcibly drag the fox out of the hole by his hind legs as the animal tried to squirm away, before letting him run loose.
Minutes later a pack of hounds were seen to run past, sniffing at the ground.
District Judge Kamlesh Rana said the men had “put this fox at substantial risk of further suffering”.
During their trial, prosecutor Peter Rymon said the men had “clearly placed” the fox “in the path of a hunt at the time the hunt was arriving” in the woodland in Moreton near Thame.
“The rodding caused it unnecessary suffering and pulling it out by the tail enhanced that,” he added.
Mr Rymon said animals rendered “under the control of man” had “enhanced rights and those rights are the person in control of it should not cause unnecessary suffering”.
It emerged that Vincent was the President of the Kimblewick Hunt, which operates in Bedfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Oxfordshire. He is also named as a local event coordinator in a hunt newsletter.
Martin Sims, director of investigations at the League Against Cruel Sports and former head of the police’s National Wildlife Crime Unit, said the case “provided clear evidence that the Kimblewick Hunt is flouting the hunting ban”.
District Judge Rana previously said the defendants’ actions were “deliberate and pre-mediated” but said during their sentencing that they “weren’t the brains of the operation”.
Sentencing: 12 weeks’ imprisonment, suspended for a period of 12 months. 120 hours of unpaid work; 15 rehabilitation days. £113 victim surcharge each plus £960 in costs.
CONVICTED (2019) | William Tatler, born c. 1973, of The Green, Idridgehay, Belper, Derbyshire DE56 2SJ, and Samuel Staniland, born c. 1987, of Hadleigh, Ipswich IP7 – for illegal fox hunting, with cubs being targeted.
Will Tatler (left) and Sam Staniland received pitiful fines after being filmed illegally hunting a fox
Joint master Will Tatler and huntsman Sam Staniland admitted hunting a wild mammal with dogs at Spath Covert, in Sutton-on-the-Hill, Derbyshire, on October 2, 2018.
The men were charged under the Hunting Act 2004, which says people who illegally hunt foxes can be fined but not sent to prison.
Sam Staniland has since left the hunt and moved from Sudbury to Hadleigh near Ipswich
It was the second time people from MSSH have been prosecuted for fox hunting. Two other men from the hunt – Johnny Greenall and Glen Morris – were caught illegally hunting fox cubs in 2011.
The case against four other associates of the hunt was dismissed.
Charges against assistant terrierman Sam Stanley were dropped
They were assistant terrier man Samuel Stanley, 25, of Burton Road, Needwood; terrier man Andrew Bull, 51, of Meynell Hunt Kennels, Ashbourne Road, Sudbury; whipper-in John ‘Ollie’ Finnegan, 33, of Gaddesby Lane, Kirby Bellars; and joint master Peter Southwell, 61, of Tolldish Lane, Great Haywood.
Terrierman Andy Bull also had the charges against him dropped
All six men had previously pleaded not guilty and were set to face trial, but Staniland and Tatler changed their plea to guilty before the trial.
The prosecution came after the League Against Cruel Sports filmed a fox being hunted and gave the footage to police.
League Against Cruel Sports investigator Roger Swaine captured the footage on 2 October 2018 at Spath Covert in Sutton-on-the-Hill, Derbyshire – the same area where two other men from the hunt were caught illegally hunting fox cubs in 2011.
Mr Swaine said they were “cub hunting”, which is when hounds are trained to hunt fox cubs.
“They were in the same place, it was the same hunt, doing exactly the same thing,” said Mr Swaine, who also filmed the previous footage.
He said he was “disappointed” by the fine.
“The problem is they are very well financed and they have a very good legal defence team,” he said.
“To receive just a fine for this barbaric activity shows the need to strengthen the Hunting Act, including the introduction of prison sentences,” he said.
Still from footage filmed by the League Against Cruel Sports showing a fox being illegally targeted by Meynell and South Staffordshire Hunt associates
In a statement issued through the Countryside Alliance, the Meynell and South Staffordshire Hunt said the Hunting Act was “a difficult and troublesome piece of legislation”.
“It is complex and open to misinterpretation,” the statement said.
“The Meynell and South Staffordshire Hunt regrets that in this case some individuals were unable to show that they had fulfilled all the conditions of the relevant exemption, as set out in Schedule 1 of the Act.
“The Hunt confirms that moving forward it will continue to operate within the law, utilising both artificial trails and the exemptions provided in the Act.”
Sentencing: fined £535 and ordered to pay £150 towards legal costs.
CONVICTED (2018) | huntsman George R Adams, born c. 1951, of Ramshill Cottages, Stamford Road, Peterborough PE6 7EZ – used a pack of hounds to kill a fox
Fitzwilliam huntsman George Adams was convicted of breaching the Hunting Act after hounds killed a fox.
Adams, a huntsman with the Fitzwilliam Hunt, was in charge of the pack of hounds when it killed a fox on January 1, 2016.
Falconer John Mease was found not guilty of the charge and also not guilty of causing unnecessary cruelty to an animal relating to hunting of a fox in 2013
The court heard that the hunt started in Wansford, Cambridgeshire and that the fox was eventually killed near Elton by the pack of hounds.
Adams’ co-defendant John Mease, of 3 Kennels Cottages, Milton Park, Peterborough PE6 7AB, who was present at the hunt with a golden eagle, was found not guilty after a court heard he used the bird of prey to catch animals, rather than a pack of dogs.
Mease was further cleared of causing unnecessary cruelty to an animal despite ‘dispatching’ another fox by driving a KNIFE through its eye after it was caught by his raptor in 2013.
The court heard from saboteurs Ruth Nichols and Stephen Milton, who had tracked the hunt.
Video footage shown to the court taken by Mr Milton, which involved around 40 hounds – with the sound of a hunting horn clearly heard.
Mr Milton said he had seen the hunt tracking the fox, and had not heard any calls to ward the dogs off from the fox.
George Adams with the kill.
Adams, who joined the Fitzwilliam Hunt in 1981 and became a huntsman in 1984, told the court he had not seen the fox before it was killed.
When asked if it was his intention to kill the fox with hounds, he said: ‘Absolutely not. We wanted to flush it out for the bird of prey.’
Mr Mease told the court there was no chance for him to release his golden eagle to catch the fox because the saboteurs were in the field, which would provide a risk to the bird.
He was asked why he never radioed Adams to call the hunt off.
He said: ‘A hunt is a fluid thing. It was changing minute by minute. It was the heat of the moment and it was the first time I had come across saboteurs in my 11 years.’
He told the court he was in charge of the bird but had no control over the pack of hounds, which was Adams’ responsibility.
Speaking after the trial, Hunt Saboteurs Association spokesperson Lee Moon said: ‘To anyone who witnessed the events on the day in question it was abundantly clear that a wild mammal was hunted and killed illegally, in a most gruesome manner.
‘Although a fox had to suffer and die due to the blatant and remorseless actions of the defendants we are pleased that hunt saboteurs were able to bring at least one of them to justice.
‘We would like to thank Cambridgeshire police who conducted a robust and unbiased investigation.
‘The loopholes and exemptions in the current act have always been cynically exploited by hunts in order to operate much as they would have done prior to the ban.
‘The guilty verdict proves that hunting with a full pack of hounds is not the same as Falconry and the judge in summing up confirmed as much.
‘The outcome will of course have wider reaching implications for all those hunts around the country who claim to use this exemption.
‘We will continue to vigorously oppose those who gain enjoyment from the torture and killing of our wildlife and will use all the tools at our disposal to those ends.
‘We have the overwhelming support of the general public who wish to see an end to the barbaric minority pastime.’
Sentencing | fined £1,000 and ordered to pay £950 costs.
CONVICTED (2016) | Stephen Thomas Parkes, born 29 September 1981 of Bloxwich Road, Walsall WS3 2XE – forced dogs to fight with foxes.
Parkes was arrested after police found a group of men and two dead foxes on waste ground in Goscote, Walsall, in November 2015. Two injured terriers were found in his vehicle.
Parkes was convicted of one case of causing unnecessary suffering to his two tri-coloured terrier dogs, Ted and Bully, on November 29, 2015.
He was also found guilty of fox hunting in contravention of the 2004 Hunting Act.
In court, it was revealed how police had spotted a Ford Mondeo car on wasteland on Goscote Lodge Crescent, Goscote, at around 5.30pm on November 29. Inside were two dogs who had blood around their muzzles.
The officers approached a group of around eight men who had torches and when they announced themselves as police they fled along with several dogs.
But Parkes and another man didn’t run and were both holding spades.
Two dead foxes were on the ground without their tails – a sign they had been cut off as a trophy.
In court, Parkes admitted he told police shortly after being caught: “Yeah, I will hold my hands up – I was fox hunting.” However, he later said he was being sarcastic.
He said he had taken the two dogs for a walk and had let them off the lead. Bully had gone missing so he sent down Ted to find her.
But both dogs wouldn’t come back up so he spent several hours digging for them.
In court, the unemployed father of two said: “I love those dogs. I would never take them home injured as I have two little daughters and they would be upset. I wouldn’t want them going to school telling their teachers. I was going to take them straight to the vets at Quinton.”
The dogs were taken to the vets where they were examined. Both had “multiple small wounds” to their muzzles and signs of an infection to their eyes.
A postmortem revealed both foxes had died of injuries consistent with dog bites.
It was also revealed Parkes had a conviction for interfering with a badger sett dating back to 2004.
Nearly 4 years after his conviction and it’s clear that Ste Parkes hasn’t changed one bit.
Sentencing Parkes District Judge Neil Davison told him: “I simply don’t believe the account you have given in court. You deliberately sent those two dogs into the hole which resulted in the deaths of two foxes and injuries to Ted and Bully. From photographs shown in court you clearly have an interest in hunting.”
Speaking after the case RSPCA Inspector Bob Crutchley said: “We are happy with the sentence. This sends out a clear message that fox hunting using dogs will not be tolerated.
“Parkes had a history of hunting using dogs and we are pleased he has now been banned from keeping them.
“Fox hunting is quite rare in the Black Country and Birmingham areas but as can be seen by this case it does go on. Detecting it is the problem.”
A deprivation and disposal order for Ted and Bully was also ordered at court.
Sentencing | fined £210 and ordered to pay £270 in costs. Banned from keeping dogs for ONE year (expired October 2017).
CONVICTED (2016) | Samuel Lyas, born 27/03/1990, and Valentine Baldock, born 26/05/1984, both of Brent Pelham, Buntingford – for leaving their injured dogs to suffer after forcing them to fight foxes and badgers
Lyas (pictured) and Baldock admitted causing unnecessary suffering to terriers, some of whom were left with the skin ripped from their lower jaws.
The RSPCA’s special operations unit began investigating Lyas, who is originally from Witham in Essex, after being made aware of allegations that he used his dogs to attack wild animals. A warrant was executed by Herts Constabulary’s rural operations team at his home in April 2015.
RSPCA officers found six terriers, including a red male called Max and a black longhair called Bronson who both needed treatment for their injuries. Max was suffering ‘de-gloving’ injuries – the dog had no skin on his lower jaw, leaving the flesh exposed after it had been ripped off.
A tethering post was found by RSPCA and police officers, which pictures on Lyas’ phone showed was used to tie up foxes for the dogs to practise on.
A homemade noose was also found.
Sam Lyas
A separate warrant the same day at Baldock’s address, also in Brent Pelham, found more dogs, including black terriers called Gravel and Todd, with head, facial and jaw injuries which had not received proper treatment.
A vet also found staples in the corner of Gravel’s mouth, some of which had become partially detached from the skin. These had been inserted by Baldock.
A series of text messages between Lyas and a friend revealed Bronson had been involved in a fight with a fox. One text said: “Had hold of him from start to finish not a noise from him just grunted with his mouth full.”
Prosecutor Lauren Bond told the court: “These people are not fit and proper to look after animals.
“They have shown a complete contempt for the safety of animals, not just the dogs but the foxes.
“These are not injuries that have occurred by accident, they have occurred through deliberate placing of a dog in that situation.”
Lyas and Baldock lived in neighbouring houses in Brent Pelham, which were provided by their employers, who have since sacked and evicted them. While the employer is not named in the linked article, it is known that both men worked for the Puckeridge Hunt, Lyas as a terrierman and Baldock as a kennel huntsman. It is alleged that the hunt paid their legal costs but then cut ties just before conviction following negative publicity.
A screenshot of the Puckeridge Hunt website lists Valentine Baldock as a kennel huntsman.
The decision to seize a dog found in Lyas’ home drew an angry reaction from the public gallery, with his friends and family claiming she belonged to his partner.
One of his entourage shouted: “How much more do you want to take away?”
Lyas has a history of violence being part of a gang of thugs convicted for assault in 2010.
Sentencing: Lyas – 26-week custodial sentence, suspended for two years; £3,600 in costs; 280 hours’ unpaid work. Baldock – 225 hours’ community service; £3,025 in fines. Both banned from keeping animals for life.
CONVICTED (2013) | Avon Vale Hunt joint huntmaster Stuart Timothy Radbourne, born April 1984, of The Common, Chippenham SN15 2JJ and terrierman Benjamin George Pethers, born c. 1984, of Hoopers Pool, Southwick, Trowbridge BA14 9NG – “interfered” with a badger set.
Avon Vale joint huntmaster Stuart Radbourne (left) and terrierman Ben Pethers admitted interfering with a badger sett
Stuart Radbourne and Ben Pethers claimed they were trying to find a lost terrier called Jimmy after they were caught digging frantically at a badger sett.
The pair were charged with the badger set attack and jointly charged with breaching the Hunting Act along with Jonathon Seed, born February 1958, the former master of the Avon Vale Hunt, and two other hunt staff, Paul Tylee-Hinder, born c. 1954, and Josh Charlesworth, born c. 1994.
L-R Avon Vale Hunt employees Stuart Radbourne, Paul Tylee-Hinder, Ben Pethers and Joshua CharlseworthConservative councillor and former hunt master Jonathan Seed branded the court case a ‘complete outrage’
The RSPCA ultimately dropped the hunting charges after Radbourne and Pethers pleaded guilty to interfering with a badger sett.
The court heard that on March 6 ,2012, the five men, who were out hunting, were alerted that their dogs had marked a fox in a nearby field.
Radbourne and Pethers, who were riding on a quad bike, reached the area first and began to assess the situation.
They let the inexperienced terrier, Jimmy, loose and he ran off and disappeared.
The huntsmen located the dog in the sett after they heard barking from below the ground.
They tried to use a location collar to pull him out but when that failed they began digging at the ground to free him, the court was told.
Jeremy Cave, prosecuting, said: ‘An onlooker saw the men digging in the sett and describes the digging as furious with soil flying.
‘The police and the RSPCA turned up and the men were questioned.
‘There had been considerable interference with the set, digging and filling in the entrances. In total there were 15 entrances to the sett, 11 of which had been blocked.
‘RSPCA Inspector Ian Burns, who turned up at the site, described it as “the worst find he has ever witnessed in his 25 years of being an inspector”.’
He added that Radbourne had been seen by another onlooker waist deep in the sett digging.
Avon Vale Hunt employee Paul Tylee-Hinder from Calne, Wiltshire and his terrier
The traumatised terrier eventually resurfaced two hours after he had first become stuck, suffering deep cuts and puncture wounds to his neck and face.
The RSPCA had originally brought charges against all five huntsman of breaking the Hunting Act ban, but decided to drop the cases after accepting the guilty pleas from Radbourne and Pethers.
Seed, of Bromham, Tylee-Hinder, of Calne, and Charlesworth, of East Tytherton, all denied any wrong-doing.
Clive Rees, defending Radbourne, told the court: ‘It was certainly a badger sett and it was accepted that he had been the one who was up to his waist in it and he took full responsibility for that.
‘But it was out of concern for the terrier.
‘Mr Radbourne accepted his responsibility from the beginning. Seeing it was an active badger set made him even more concerned about Jimmy.’
Janet Gedrych, for Mr Pethers, said her client had accepted that it was ‘reckless’ to let Jimmy free.
‘It was clear that Jimmy had escaped and it was reckless to allow the dog out of the cage before fully investigating,’ he said.
‘He accepts that he was digging in an effort to find his dog, he didn’t intentionally set out to damage the sett but he acted recklessly to find his lost dog.’
Stuart Radbourne pictured arriving at court
District Judge Cooper told the pair: ‘In my mind the main aspect of this case was a failure to control Jimmy.
‘Reliable or not, he should have been kept in his box. He got out and disappeared down the sett.
‘Why he did it is speculation, but that he should have been allowed to do it was wrong. You are both responsible and you both could have prevented it.’
The RSPCA inspector who compiled the case against the five men said he would have been ‘heavily criticised’ if he had walked away from prosecution.
Inspector Ian Burns said: ‘There was severe damage to that badger sett and with all the money it has cost I would have been heavily criticised if I had walked away and left it.
‘I have had 25 years’ experience as a wildlife officer and I have dealt with numerous badger cases and that is the biggest, deepest, hole that I have seen dug.’
A spokesman for the RSPCA added: ‘The RSPCA received a call that a group of men had been seen on and around a badger sett in Stockley Hollow at the time that the Avon Vale was riding in the vicinity.
‘On examining the area, RSPCA inspector Ian Burns found that a large hole had been dug directly down into the active badger sett, breaking a tunnel and entrances had been blocked up.
‘A small Patterdale terrier emerged from the sett, muddy, dazed and bleeding badly from his jaw. He was fitted with an underground location collar.
‘The dog, which belonged to Pethers, was taken to a vet who found his injuries were consistent with having been attacked by the claws and teeth of an animal whilst underground.
‘The defendants gave conflicting accounts at the scene including chasing foxes, rabbits and searching for a lost dog.’
The badger sett where the men were spotted was in Stockley Hollow, near Calne, Wiltshire.
Sentencing | each ordered to pay a £300 fine, £250 costs and a £15 victim surcharge.
Three members of the Avon Vale Hunt have been arrested on suspicion of wildlife offences after a video emerged online appearing to show people pulling a fox out of a den.
According to various hunt saboteur groups, Stuart Radbourne is one of the three, alongside whipper-in Aaron Fookes. The identity of the third man has not yet been confirmed.
Aaron Fookes (left) with Stuart Radbourne
The clip shows one fox being pulled out of its den before another jumps out from underground.
Cheers and laughter are then heard as the hounds apparently pursue the foxes.
The British Hounds Sports Association (BHSA) immediately suspended Avon Vale Hunt from its organisation pending an investigation and has summoned the joint masters, acting chairman and kennel huntsman to BHSA headquarters to explain themselves.
In a statement, the BHSA said: “The panel found that on the balance of probabilities the evidence revealed serious breaches of the core principles and rules of the BHSA.”
It said the panel “were minded to permanently to expel the hunt and its masters, huntsman and kennel huntsman from membership of the BHSA.
“This would mean that in all probability the Hunt would no longer be able to function.”
The Wiltshire hunt has 14 days to respond to the findings.
CONVICTED (2012) | Meynell and South Staffordshire hunt master John Edward Greenall, born July 1960 of Wootton Hall Estate, Wootton, Ellastone, Ashbourne DE6 2GW, and hunt field member Glen Morris, born c. 1969, of Ludgate Street, Tutbury, Burton-on-Trent DE13 9NG – illegally hunted fox cubs with hounds.
Johnny Greenall (right) and Glen Morris pictured outside court
Greenall, son of the Baron of Daresbury, and hunt employee Morris were secretly filmed by anti-hunt protesters trying to kill foxes near Hilton in Staffordshire.
Both men denied breaching the Hunting Act but were both convicted.
Footage played in court showed members of the Meynell and South Staffordshire Hunt surrounding a wood at Suffield Farm in Sutton on the Hill in October 2011.
The hounds entered the wood to hunt young foxes in a sport known as ‘cubbing’.
One fleeing fox was scared back into the wood by the surrounding huntsmen who were clapping their hands.
Hunting foxes with dogs was made illegal in the 2004 Hunting Act.
Summing up, the judge said: “The evidence that Greenall was the hunt master is not in dispute nor is the fact that he was there that day.
“Greenall gave an innocent explanation as to why he was there in his police interview. But he has chosen not to give evidence in front of me.
“This is because the evidence would not stand up to any scrutiny.”
Tim Bonner, from the Countryside Alliance, was disappointed with the ruling. He said: “I am surprised at the verdict when there is no evidence in which foxes are shown to be pursued, let alone being caught by the hounds.”
Steve Harris, head of enforcement at The League Against Cruel Sports, said: “We are very pleased that Derbyshire Police thoroughly investigated this case and that the Crown Prosecution Service were willing to allow a court to decide on who was telling the truth.”
Sentencing | Greenall was fined £3,515 and Morris was ordered to pay £515.
The not so honourable Johnny Greenall stepped down from his role as chairman of The Meynell & South Staffordshire Hunt, citing the court case as his reason.
