WOODS ROW HUNTSMEN GET ASBO WARNING

Daily Telegraph

Three huntsmen have been issued with a warning notice under anti-social behaviour legislation following a complaint that hounds had trespassed on private land.

The notice, believed to be the first of its kind against huntsmen, prevents the leaders of the Cotswold Hunt from taking hounds through 30 acres of private woodland on the edge of Elcombe, near Stroud, Glos.

The move follows complaints by Jeanne Berry, who owns part of the woodland, and other residents. Mrs Berry, an opponent of hunting, called in police last month after finding bloodstains on her fencing.

A file was passed to the Crown Prosecution Service, but it decided there was not enough evidence to justify a prosecution under the Hunting Act 2004.

The Stroud area anti-social behaviour co-ordinator Colin Peake held a meeting with both parties to discuss the complaint.

"It was accordingly decided that the most effective way to resolve the issue was to serve a warning notice," he said.

"The Cotswold Hunt accepted this and the warning notice has thus been served on three individuals who have control and management of the hunt. Hopefully a practical and long-standing resolution has been achieved."

He said the names of the three huntsmen were "confidential".

A warning notice carries no punishment if it is breached but it can be used as evidence in future legal proceedings under anti-social behaviour legislation.

Read More Here

HUNT RECEIVES ASBO WARNING AFTER CPS RULES OUT ACTION

The Guardian

Members of the first hunt in Britain to be investigated under the Antisocial Behaviour Act were issued with warning notices yesterday.

After a failed attempt to prosecute the Cotswold hunt under the Hunting Act 2004, residents of Elcombe valley called on Stroud council and Gloucestershire police to investigate whether they could issue an asbo to members of the hunt.

Colin Peake, antisocial behaviour coordinator for Stroud district council, said yesterday he had issued a warning under the Antisocial Behaviour Act 2003 - a move which is one step away from issuing an asbo. "We are saying to three individuals from the hunt, your behaviour has come to our notice and it's not found to be acceptable," he said. "People might say this is not what the antisocial behaviour legislation is for, but the act says it covers actions which cause harassment, alarm or distress to one or more persons. We wanted to find a suitable way of keeping harmony and this was it."

The warning notices were issued to Bob Cooper, senior master, and two joint masters, after several occasions in which the hunt was said to have trespassed on private land. Gloucestershire police investigated reports that the hunt was breaking the new anti-hunting law, but the Crown Prosecution Service decided not to take any action. One of the Elcombe residents, Jeanne Berry, then researched the use of asbos against the hunt.

A spokeswoman for the League Against Cruel Sports said she hoped the asbo warning would be the first of many. "Each week during the hunting season we receive many reports of hunts trespassing on people's land, terrorising their animals and livestock and causing havoc. This action will give hope to those who for far too long have suffered at the hands of the hunters," she said. There have been no prosecutions of hunts since the introduction of the Hunting Act, which banned hunting of foxes with hounds.

Mr Cooper yesterday said his hunt had not been breaking the law. He added: "We run a trail hunt in which we impregnate a piece of duster with live fox scent, trail that and follow the scent.
"But every now and again the scent of a real fox is far stronger than what we can produce and the hounds come off the trail. When that happens we have to go like hell to get the hounds back. We have never intentionally broken the law."

He denied the hunt had repeatedly trespassed over land in Elcombe.

"We have been issued with this warning letter and have spoken to the council. But we would resist any attempts to issue us with an asbo."

Read More Here

VILLAGERS SEEK ASBO TO DRIVE COTSWOLD HUNT FROM THEIR LAND

Arifa Akbar
The Independent

They are used to being chastised by hunt saboteurs or animal- loving MPs but now Britain's huntsmen and women face a new threat, the Asbo.

The Cotswold Hunt, a pillar of Gloucestershire society, could soon be on the receiving end of a punishment often reserved for young tearaways in "hoodies". Followers of the hunt have allegedly stampeded across private land, leaving a trail of destruction.

Villagers in Elcombe claim the hunt has strayed into gardens, left bloodstains and killed animals illegally in private woodland. Jeanne Berry, a landowner, instructed her solicitor yesterday to apply for an antisocial behaviour order and an injunction against further trespass after the alleged disturbance.

Gloucestershire Police are investigating the complaint that the hunt illegally killed an animal in the Slad Valley last week, and have taken DNA samples of bloodstains found in a clearing.
Ten villagers from Elcombe said they first wrote to the hunt last October requesting huntsmen to keep their hounds off private property. But last Thursday they found signs that the dogs had entered their land again.

Ms Berry said an Asbo would prevent the hunt from causing more damage. "Last October, hounds from the hunt were out of control over various people's gardens and I wrote to the hunt to complain. Then I sent a petition letter signed by many of my neighbours complaining and asking them not to trespass again.

"We had a letter back apologising for one or two hounds going into people's gardens and we thought that would do the trick. We thought they wouldn't dare come back after that, but we were wrong. Last week they were back again. They ran across my ground. I went there later and there was blood on the ground but whatever had been killed had been taken away.
"I don't see why there shouldn't be an Asbo. If they were a bunch of lads with motorbikes and pitbulls then the police would apply for an Asbo straight away."

Denise Ward, a neighbour, described an incident in which she claims to have witnessed the hunt tearing through private woodland. "We heard a terrible noise and looked out to see a whole pack of hounds coming down through the woodlands opposite us, which is private land.

"They went down over the Trantershill Plantation which is also private land and into my neighbour's garden. Then there was this terrible screaming which could have been a fox or a deer. When they were gone I went up there and found fresh blood."

Mrs Ward and Mrs Berry say an Asbo on the hunt would prevent it returning to the valley by banning it from entering a specified area. The orders can carry penalties in the criminal courts.

The hunt, based at Andoversford, near Cheltenham, insisted that nothing was killed last week and that every effort was made to keep hounds away from private land, although the senior master, Bob Cooper, admitted one or two hounds may have strayed. "We know about the Elcombe situation and have sent notification of when we're in the area to those residents," he said. "We only hunt a trail and it is not our intention to hunt live quarry. Residents would hear the hounds and maybe they misunderstood what was happening."

Read More Here