HUNTING IS 'NOT TOP OF POLICE PRIORITIES

Western Morning News

A chief police officer yesterday quashed campaigners' hopes that the force will clamp down hard on illegal hunting by saying it was "not top of the list of priorities". Assistant Chief Constable Richard Stowe, of Devon and Cornwall Police, yesterday said incidents of flouting the law on hunting would be treated "the same as all other wildlife crime".

His comments were in response to demands from the League Against Cruel Sports, which spent £65,000 in a private prosecution against Exmoor hunstsman Tony Wright at Barnstaple Magistrates Court earlier this month.

Mr Wright, who still believes he was acting within the law, was fined £500 and ordered to pay costs of just £250 after he was filmed chasing two foxes across Exmoor with two hounds. He is planning to appeal.

However, ACC Stowe said the Barnstaple hearing was not a legislative benchmark. He said a change in the way the law is implemented would only come about through a High Court ruling.

He said Mr Wright's appeal could result in such a ruling, and said: "That would give us some case law and guidance on the interpretation of the legislation, and we would welcome that."

In the meantime, Mr Stowe said police would "have regard for" the Barnstaple ruling.

However, he said it was too early to say whether more prosecutions could be expected until the appeal was complete.

"We would stress that hunting is not top of our list of priorities. It never has been," Mr Stowe said.

"We treat it as we treat all other wildlife crime. The priority for us is to protect the people of Devon and Cornwall from violent crime, burglaries and vehicle crime.

"Hunting is not part of the Government's national policing plan, so from that we can conclude from that the Government does not expect the issue to be high on our list of priorities."

He said more than 30 allegations of illegal hunting were made in Devon and Cornwall last year.

Two were looked at by police case reviewers, but neither was referred to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), which decides whether cases are strong enough to come to court.

Mr Stowe said: "We will look at what happens this season, and if the evidence is there, we will put it to the CPS."

He pledged the force would continue to meet with both pro- and anti-hunt campaigners. "All lines of communication are open," he said.

Mike Hobday, spokesman of the League Against Cruel Sports (LACS), admitted the £65,000 case had been a significant drain on the organisation's £1.5million annual income. But he denied they had ruled out future private prosecutions. He called on police to see the Barnstaple decision as guidance, and act on the evidence the organisation provides.

"The league only took forward this one private prosecution because we thought that the police had so badly failed in their responsibilities," he said.

Avon and Somerset Police spokesman Dan Mountain yesterday said: "The findings of the court set a benchmark for the first time, and forces across the country will look at any new evidence with that in mind."

Mr Wright, professional huntsman with the Exmoor Foxhounds, yesterday confirmed that he planned to appeal the decision, a stance supported by the Countryside Alliance.

He said: "I don't believe that what I was doing was against the law."

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