CONVICTED (2024) | hare coursers George William Miller, born July 1991, of Loupsfell Drive, Morecambe LA4 4SB and Lewis Sheridan, born 21 October 1986, of 128 Thicketford Road, Bolton BL2 2LU
The pair were seen hare coursing near the Lincolnshire villages of Twenty and West Pinchbeck on Friday 13 October 2023. They were spotted walking across arable land with their two long dogs. The dogs -one beige in colour and the other black – were seen chasing and catching hares.
Caught red handed: convicted hare courser Lewis Sheridan
The men had arrived in the area in a silver Skoda car which they had left near to a farm in the area. They had tried to hide the car behind some foliage.
On arriving back at the car, the men were challenged by the local farmer who had tried to block the car in with farm machinery. In a bid to escape, the Skoda was driven at speed across grassed areas and onto the A151.
Sheridan and Miller were arrested when their car was seen and stopped by officers from Lincolnshire Police’s Rural Crime Action Team (RCAT), around an hour later.
The men’s car was seized along with the two dogs and equipment including three thermal cameras, a video camera and four mobile phones.
Information obtained from the recording devices and mobile phones pinpointed the men’s unlawful activities and provided evidence of their offending.
During interview the men lied that they had the landowner’s permission to undertake pest control in the area.
On 1 May 2024 Sheridan and Miller pleaded guilty to hunting a wild mammal with a dog, contrary to Schedule 1 of the Hunting Act 2004.
Both men relinquished ownership of their dogs who have subsequently been rehomed.
Sentencing | 10-year Criminal Behaviour Orders banning them from entering onto any private land in Lincolnshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Northamptonshire or Nottinghamshire during hare coursing season (31 July to 30 April) with a sighthound, ground, long dog, lurcher type dog or crossbreed or be in the company of any other people with that type of dog. Ordered to pay a total of £4,575.50 in full by 30 May 2024.
George Miller, who’s originally from Lancaster (Slyne Road) with links to Heysham, has a roofing company called Lancashire and Cumbria Roofing Ltd.
In March 2021 Miller received a three-year ban on breeding and selling dogs after being convicted of illegally trading puppies. He was prosecuted by Animal Protection Services following their investigation into his activities.
Lewis Sheridan is also a roofer. His wife runs a dog grooming company called Your Faithful Friend Limited, which operates from premises on Bury Road, Bolton BL2 6BB.
CONVICTED (2023) | Kevin Skelding, born c. 1983, of Liz Clare Court, Donnington, Telford TF2 7RB, Craig John Richards, born 10 August 1974, of 109 Harrold Road, Rowley Regis B65 0RL, and his brother Scott Richards, born c. 1989 and of the same address: caught armed with dogs to hunt hares.
L-R Scott Richards, Craig Richards , Kevin Skelding
Image: Facebook – Kevin SkeldingImage: Facebook – Scott Richards
The court heard that a member of the public called police on October 28 2022, after spotting the three men with lurcher dogs on land in Market Drayton, north Shropshire.
Police sent an armed response unit and scrambled the force helicopter.
At the scene, officers found an unattended Kia Sportage.
Image: Facebook – Craig Richards
Skelding and Craig Richards were found hiding in a wooded area and arrested.
Scott Richards was found in a location away from the other two. The lurcher dogs were found with the vehicle.
The three were found to be in possession of a catapult and ball bearings as well as slip leads. They claimed they were just walking their dogs.
Sentencing | Craig Richards was ordered to carry out 150 hours unpaid work while Scott Richards was ordered to do 120 hours and Skelding 100 hours. All three men were ordered to pay £624 each towards kennelling costs.
CONVICTED (2023) | hare coursers Darren Lee, born c. 1996, of Top Road, Barnacle, Coventry CV7, and Ronnie Doherty, born 28 March 2001, of Newton Road, Rushden NN10.
Ronnie Doherty, a traveller and wildlife criminal based in Rushden, North Northamptonshire
Gypsy travellers Lee and Doherty both pleaded guilty to charges of trespass with intent to pursue hares with dogs in August 2022.
The pair were prosecuted after being caught hare coursing in the South Holland district of Lincolnshire. One incident took place in Gedney Dyke and the other in Whaplode Drove.
They were arrested when a witness used binoculars to note a Jaguar’s registration plate as they fled Middle Drove, Gedney Dyke, after being seen bundling sighthounds into the vehicle.
Prosecutor Paul Wood said a phone seized from Doherty contained voice messages and conversations about hare coursing as well as photos of leaflets of Lincolnshire Police’s combative Operation Galileo and the new legislation.
There were also 13 videos of hare coursing activity, with at least one filmed that day.
“Mr Doherty narrating ‘this is how me and young Darren goes coursing, boys,’” Mr Wood said.
In light of the pleas, the Crown Prosecution Service withdrew a similar charge relating to West Pinchbeck and a charge of hunting a wild mammal elsewhere in South Holland, both on the same date as the offences which they admitted.
Jason Patel, mitigating for both men, said that hare coursing “is an activity which is unfortunately entrenched in their history.”
He added: “These young men will have grown up with this activity around them.”
Lee and Doherty were the first in Lincolnshire to be charged under new laws to tackle illegal hare coursing.
The Police Crime Sentencing and Courts Act 2022, which passed into law on 1 August 2022, made it an offence to go equipped for, search for, or pursue hares with dogs, and an offence to trespass with intent to search for or pursue hares with dogs.
Those convicted of doing so face an unlimited fine and up to six months in prison.
It also allows courts to order a reimbursement of the costs of kennelling which is paid for by the police.
Sentencing | Lee and Doherty were each ordered to pay an equal share of £11,144 for kennelling and veterinary costs. They were banned from keeping dogs for five years. The rehoming order was suspended until 31 March 2023 to enable them to rehome their dogs
The court issued an order to Doherty for the forfeiture and destruction of a thermal scope used to detect body heat of hares.
CONVICTED (2022) | Sydney Samuels, born c. 1988, of 59 Oxford Gardens, Greenfield, Maidstone ME15 8FJ – caught breaching a Community Protection Notice (CPN) imposed for hare coursing.
Officers first warned Samuels, a traveller, on 27 August 2021 following seven reports of suspected poaching taking place at Neats Court in Queenborough, Isle of Sheppey.
On 27 November he was issued with a CPN after being stopped while in a vehicle in Eastwood Road. The car was searched under The Poaching Prevention Act 1862 and inside officers found dogs and deceased rabbits.
The CPN contained several conditions, including not being allowed to be on private land without the owner’s written permission, not being allowed to have dogs off-lead and not being allowed to be in possession of a catapult or air weapon.
On 26 January 2022 officers were told of two men being seen with dogs on private land near Old Ferry Road, Iwade. Officers attended and searched the area and found a flatbed truck where a deceased rabbit was found.
They stopped two men, one of whom was Sydney Samuels, and he was arrested for again breaching the CPN.
Following Samuels’ latest court appearance, he was also issued with a three-year Criminal Behaviour Order, which contained conditions to prohibit poaching. If this is breached this can result in a custodial sentence.
Sentencing: £400 fine.
Sydney Samuels was the first person to be taken to court for breaching his CPN which was served to him as part of Op Galileo, the national initiative, which primarily aims to combat hare coursing.
In order to support the national initiative, Kent Police and six other forces – Bedfordshire, Cambridge, Herefordshire, Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex – started to work collaboratively in August 2021.
The agreement, which has been completed with the support of the Crown Prosecution Service, has allowed the seven forces to work as one when exercising certain powers. This includes sharing interactions and movements, the use of automatic number plate recognition and seizing dogs.
Sydney Samuels, who has links to travellers sites in Maidstone and Sittingbourne, is believed to be the brother of another bloodsports maniac, Jack Samuels who lives at the same address in Oxford Gardens with girlfriend Liane Clark and their children. While there is no evidence that Jack Samuels has ever been prosecuted for wildlife crime, the images and videos he uploads to his Facebook profile and various ‘bushing’ groups he admins speak for themselves.
Samuels advises anyone whose dog “can’t kill a hare” to “dump it”. What a charmer.
CONVICTED (2021) | hare coursers John Jeff Greedy, born 4 August 2002, of Clos Dyfnaint, St Mellons, Cardiff CF3 0DY and Dougie Whitbread, born 19 October 2000 of Coldwell Terrace, Pembroke SA71 4QL
Dougie Whitbread (left) and John Jeff Greedy were caught hare coursing.
Travellers Greedy and Whitbread were found guilty of hare coursing in Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, after they were spotted by a local game keeper.
The pair were each fined £541.50 after being found guilty of hunting a wild mammal with a dog.
They were also ordered to have their thermal imaging camera and binoculars forfeited under section 9 of the Hunting Act 2004.
The court heard how police were called to an estate in Dumbleton near Tewkesbury on the morning of Wednesday 26 November, 2020, after concerns were raised about the behaviour of the men.
A local game keeper had spotted the men and two dogs walking across a private field taking part in what looked like hunting.
Police arrived to find a vehicle potentially belonging to the men parked down a country lane. The pair were then watched by officers who saw Greedy looking through binoculars before releasing his dog to chase a hare.
Whitbread meanwhile was using a thermal imaging camera to look for more hares.
Police stopped them before they killed any hares and approached them as they returned to their vehicle where they seized items of hunting paraphernalia.
PC Phil Mawdsley, from the Rural Crime and Tewkesbury Neighbourhood Policing teams said: “Hare coursing is a UK Wildlife Crime priority and this is one of the many successful prosecutions that we’ve had in Gloucestershire.
“Hare coursing is not welcome in our county and bringing offenders to justice is a priority for the Rural Crime Team.
“The team has recently been accepted to join a nationally led operation, called Operation Galileo, which aims to target illegal hare coursing and I hope that this case shows how seriously we treat the crime.
“This is the strongest that our rural community has been and I believe this is down to joint work to combat this crime and push criminality out of our county.”
John Greedy, now of Broad Street Common, Peterstone Wentlooge, Cardiff, was convicted of a further animal cruelty charge in relation to a terrier found with fresh and historic facial injuries.
John Greedy’s unnamed terrier had facial injuries consistent with animal fighting
On 26 March 2022 officers from the Hungerford and Downlands neighbourhood team attended an address in North Heath, Chieveley, Berkshire following a report of badger baiting.
While at the scene, a member of the public handed over a small terrier dog, which they had found nearby and had fresh and historic facial injuries.
An officer took the dog to the nearest vet for treatment.
Greedy attended and confirmed he was the owner of the dog so he was arrested.
Greedy was charged by postal requisition on 13 June, 2022.
Investigating officer PC Sean Morris, of the Hungerford and Downlands neighbourhood team, said: “A thorough investigation has led to John Greedy’s conviction as well as a fine and costs totalling more than £1,000 and the safe rehoming of a beautiful terrier looking for a fresh start.
“The Hungerford and Downlands policing team is determined to prevent, deter and tackle rural crime throughout West Berkshire.”
Sentencing: ordered to pay a fine and costs. Deprivation order on the unnamed terrier.
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.”
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