Huntsman pleads guilty to killing hare with hounds

A huntsman has pleaded guilty to killing a hare with hounds in the grounds of a stately home.

Northamptonshire Police said Philip Saunders, from the Brixworth-based Pipewell Foot Beagles, originally denied hunting a wild mammal with dogs, but changed his plea on the second day of his trial.

Magistrates in Northampton ordered Saunders, 45, from Farndish Road, Irchester, near Wellingborough, to pay fines and costs of £5,000 within 28 days of his sentencing on 17 February.

He also handed in his hunting horn to the force the following day for destruction.

The force said a wildlife photographer had taken video of a pack of beagles killing a hare on the Boughton Estate in the Warkton area of Kettering.

A post-mortem examination confirmed it had been killed by dogs.

An expert witness told the court sounds made by Saunders with his voice and his horn had encouraged the hounds to hunt, the force said.

A 42-year-old woman who was a colleague of Saunders at the Pipewell Foot Beagles, who had also been charged in relation to the incident, was released after the prosecution agreed to offer no evidence following Saunders' guilty plea.

PC Chloe Gillies, wildlife crime officer and lead investigator, said: "These investigations are quite complex and we don't always have enough evidence to get them as far as court.

"I'd like to thank the specialist wildlife advisers from the Crown Prosecution Service for their assistance in this case, as well as the witnesses who appeared in court."

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