Members of the Crawley and Horsham Hunt guilty of offences under the Hunting Act

14/05/2012

Three members of the Crawley and Horsham Hunt have been found guilty of offences under the Hunting Act 2004 after being filmed by hunt monitors on two separate occasions in January last year.

One of the Hunts Masters, Neill Millard, Hunt Secretary Rachel Holdsworth and Huntsman Andrew Phillis were caught on camera by observers and charged with hunting a wild animal with dogs.

Rachel Holdsworth and Andrew Phillis were convicted of hunting a wild animal with dogs on 18th January 2011 and 25th January 2011; Neil Millard was convicted of hunting a wild animal with dogs on 25th January 2011.

Rachel Holdsworth and Neil Millard were each fined £1,000 and ordered to pay £2,500 costs. Andrew Phillis is to be sentenced on a date yet to be set.

District Crown Prosecutor Mark Bishop said:

"It was our case that the defendants ignored the law on hunting with hounds, claiming that they did not plan to hunt or kill any foxes on 18th and 25th January 2011. The defendants claimed that the foxes seen on film being chased by the Hunts hounds were not being hunted intentionally and that the hounds were following an artificial scent. CCTV evidence and expert opinion from Professor Stephen Harris demonstrated otherwise. It was clear the hounds were excited by a fresh scent and there was no evidence of a trail being laid

"We were able to fully utilise footage from hunt monitors, which clearly showed a fox being pursued by hounds on two separate occasions within a week. Their pursuit and hunting of foxes was not accidental, but intentional."