QUICK NEWS

• NOT GUILTY – Kent hunt sab found not guilty of harassment 
• FORGIVEN HUNT – Hunt regulatory body forgives convicted Dorset hunt
• IRELAND – hunting ban progressing
• HUNT VIOLENCE AND POLICE – East Anglian hunter attacks sab, starting police campaign
• BADGERS – Cheshire female arrested under suspicion of badger baiting
• GUILTY – Dorset hunter pleads guilty to assault 
• COURT – Dorset hunter charged with illegal hunting 
• HOUNDS – Nottinghamshire hounds suffer fatal disease
• COURT – Sheffield hunter given lengthy jail sentence for house-breaking and assault
• GUILTY – Cumbrian hunter found guilty of assault
• GUILTY – Essex hunter found guilty of assault
• GUILTY – Hull hunter given jail sentence for asylum-seeker violence 
• HUNT VIOLENCE – Essex hunt violence documentary published
• CHARGED – Scottish hunter charged 
• AMALGAMATION – Essex hunts merge
• COUNTY SHOWS – Hunts parade at county shows
• HUNT CAMPAIGNS – Opposing hunting is both racist and bad for mental health

TOP STORIES

NOT GUILTY – On Wednesday 30/05/25, one of the West Kent hunt sabs was found not guilty of harassment at Margate Magistrates’ Court. The Sab report is interesting, in part because the case came to court without the usual criteria being met for a prosecution. The judge threw the case out after an hour and fifteen minutes and was irritated by the so-called evidence provided by Camilla Neame, who was alleging harassment, and a neighbour of hers that claimed to be a witness. The CPS lawyer told the defendant’s lawyer that he was forced to go ahead with the case as ‘his hands were tied’.

FORGIVEN HUNT – The British Hound Sports Association has published a letter following a disciplinary hearing by The Hound Sports Regulatory Authority into the bad behaviour of the Blackmore and Sparkford Vale Hunt. The panel took the firm measure of “issuing an expression of concern”, whilst recognising the “strong heritage and support behind” the BSV, and the hunt’s “commitment… to address the issues raised”.  A 12 month monitoring period was ‘imposed’.

IRELAND – Good news from Ireland as steps are taken there towards a foxhunting ban. Ruth Coppinger, TD, has drafted a bill which is on its way to the Bills Office. Foxhunting is rife there, so fingers crossed for the right result. Coppinger’s draft bill sensibly includes trail hunting plus the use of snares to trap and kill foxes, and proposes that:
“A person shall not-
(a) Hunt a fox, or foxes, including with a canine or canines;
(b) Use a canine or canines to flush or dig out a fox, or foxes, from below ground;
(c) Trap or snare a fox, or foxes, in order to kill the fox, or foxes;
(d) Engage in trail hunting.”

MORE STORIES

HUNT VIOLENCE AND POLICE – On 26/02/25, Tom Greig, a supporter from the Essex and Suffolk Hunt, attacked a Sab who is part of Suffolk Action for Wildlife (SAF). She had her phone broken and was seriously assaulted. Initially, the police would not take any action, but 1,200 e-mails to the police persuaded them to change their mind and say that they would issue Greig with a caution, and that he would have to pay for her camera. The Sab does not think that is sufficient and she’s again asking for support to force the police to take remedial action against the violent Tom Greig. 

BADGERS – Cheshire Rural Crime Team have arrested, in Liverpool, a female under suspicion of badger baiting.  The police say their investigation into this female remains very much active. 

GUILTY – A member of the Sparkford Vale Hunt, Steve Paul, pleaded guilty to charges of assault at Yeovil Magistrates Court. He already had a criminal record, having been found guilty of spraying urine in a sab’s face. His assault, which occurred on 11/01/25, entailed repeatedly driving his quad into a sab. He was fined £1,300 plus a £520 surcharge, £85 costs and £150 victim compensation. (A total of £2,055.) He also received a Section 59 warning for antisocial driving. The North Dorset Hunt Sabs express gratitude to the Avon and Somerset Police for their handling of the case. 

COURT – PC Sebastian Haggett from Dorset Police Rural Crime Team reports on their police facebook page that a Dorset man, (who is from the Seavington Hunt), is to appear in Weymouth Magistrates’ Court on 28/05/25 charged with foxhunting offences which occurred on 26/10/25. 

HOUNDS – The Hunt Saboteurs Association are reporting that the hounds of the Grove and Rufford Hunt are suffering from an outbreak of what is probably streptococcus zooepidemicus. Four hounds are known to have died, but there is probably a number of deaths yet to be reported. The dogs suffered from a worsening cough, progressing to blood pouring from nose and mouth, congested lungs, sky high temperatures and rapid heart rates. It appears the hounds had been fed on dead flesh (where the dead flesh is from fallen stock and is not fit for human consumption), and rejected pork pies.

COURT – Two thugs who smashed their way into a couple’s home before tying them up and robbing them, have been given lengthy jail sentences. One of these thugs is Luke Saddington. Saddington received a 14 year jail sentence for his attack on the couple. In March 2019, Saddingon drove a vehicle into two sab vehicles. He pleaded guilty to those offences, but still hasn’t been sententced. Saddington has fled the country. 

GUILTY – On 15/05/25, Mark Hamilton, second whip with the Derwent Hunt, was found guilty of “Assault by Beating’ at Scarborough Justice Centre. He used his whip against a member of the East Yorkshire Coast Hunt Sabs on 02/11/25. He was fined £192, plus costs, plus a victim surcharge of £77. 

GUILTY – A guilty verdict, too, for the teenaged Tom Martin of the Puckeridge with Essex Union Hunt. Another who used his whip against a sab (from the North London Hunt Sabs) last November, and another who now has a criminal record attached.

GUILTY – A jail sentence of two years and four months was handed down to known terrierman, Daniel Lamb. Not hunt-related, but for throwing a smoke-bomb towards a police cordon during a 12-hour stint of “racist, hate-fuelled mob violence” outside a hotel housing asylum seekers.  

HUNT VIOLENCE – PoliticsJOE have uploaded a youtube video titled, “Inside the violent world of foxhunting”. In it, reporter Ed Campbell joined members of the North London Hunt Sabs. 

CHARGED – In Scotland, Police Scotland Lothians and Scottish Borders report that a 30-year old man has been charged with two offences under the 2023 ‘Hunting with Dogs Act’. The incidents took place in the Pennymuir area on 21/12/24, and in the Hawich area on 14/01/25. 

AMALGAMATION – East Herts Sabs have confirmed the long-expected amalgamation of the Puck & Essex with the East Essex Hunt. Sabs have noticed an ever decreasing number of riders and support for these hunts. This newly amalgamated Hunt now consists of what was once four separate hunts. Hopefully, the Community Protection Notice now applies to them all.

COUNTY SHOWS – The County Shows continue to host their local hunts. The Royal Cornwall Show unashamedly advertised the Inter Hunt Relay as taking “centre stage” in their main ring. The Devon County Show hosted a parade by the East Devon Hunt and their Inter Hunt Relay also took place in their Main Arena. There was even a slot for the South Devon Hunt’s “Best Terrier”. 
(There’s an excellent write-up about ‘terrierwork’ here, from  Northumberland Hunt Watch).
The Countryside Alliance is busily posting the Hunts’ involvement in the County Shows as well as at horse events. They have posted clips of hunt presence at the Royal Windsor Horse Show, and of the Beaufort Hunt parading in the main ring at the Badminton Horse Trials.

HUNT CAMPAIGNS – The Countryside Alliance is mounting campaigns to convince the public that hunting should remain. They claim that opposing the hunts is ‘racism against countryside folk’. They’re also citing mental health – without hunting, it seems, those involved in hunting would have their mental health suffer, and they’d fall into depression. 

CLEAN BOOT – West Cornwall Hunt Saboteurs understand that a new Clean Boot Hunt is being set up in Cornwall by recent prominent members of both the Cury and Fourburrows Hunts, Adrian and Tor Sandry. The new Hunt looks to be taking the name, ‘The Miners Bloodhounds’.