Op Galileo – hare coursing

Two dogs, Gyp and Jess, will be heading to new homes after the courts ordered their forfeiture when two men were sentenced for hare coursing offences.

The dogs will be re-homed following the sentencing of William Johnson and Scott Pritchard, at Boston Magistrates’ Court on Friday.

The pair pleaded guilty to being equipped for or with the intention to search for or pursue hares, following and incident in the south of the county on  17 December last year.  They were also handed Criminal Behaviour Orders for 15 years, banned from keeping dogs and their van and equipment forfeited. They will have to pay fines and costs of over £14,000.

An investigation by the force’s Rural Crime Action Team was started after reports of suspected hare coursing were received in the Force Control Room.

Just before 9am on Sunday 17 December, a man was seen with two animals that were running over land; the animals had disappeared into long grass. It was believed one of the animals was a dog due to its height. The caller believed the man was hare coursing. A Vauxhall van was believed to be involved, with a highway maintenance sticker on the back.

Thirty minutes later, the distinctive Vauxhall van was seen and stopped by officers on Winsover Road in Spalding. Johnson and Pritchard were in the vehicle along with two long dogs in the boot. There was an orange warning beacon in the van.

The men could not give a reasonable explanation for being in Lincolnshire, or why they had been seen only five minutes down the road in West Pinchbeck. Along with the dogs they had mobile phones, a thermal imaging scope and slip leads. They were arrested for being equipped for searching for or pursuing hares with dogs.

The investigation revealed damming images on one of the seized phones. Three images recovered from Pritchard’s phone showed a black and white dog on a lead with a dead hare next to it, the dog off the lead with fur in the dog’s mouth and the same dog with another dead hare.

When asked in interview Pritchard said the images were taken when he was on land near Telford where he and another family member had permission to do pest control.

Enquiries with ANPR though showed that his distinctive Vauxhall van was seen in Lincolnshire on the same day he claimed to be in Telford, driven by a man matching his description; the same man was believed to have been hare coursing.

Similar hare coursing incidents had been reported on four separate dates, with the same distinctive vehicle being described, a medium-sized white van with an orange light on roof and a highway maintenance sticker on the back.

In interview Pritchard said someone who looked like him must have cloned his vehicle. In relation to his vehicle having been seen in West Pinchbeck, he said he had stopped there for a wee, but had not got the dogs out of the van.

When interviewed Johnson said one of the dogs, Jess, belonged to his aunt and he had been to collect Jess to look after her over Christmas. He declined to provide further details of his aunt. No-one has come forward to claim the dog.

Johnson said his aunt lived in Boston which he believed to be on the outskirts of Skegness. In reality there is 22 miles between the two locations. The normal way to travel back to his home in Telford from either Boston or Skegness would not have been to drop south down to the Spalding area. He did not explain why he was in the Spalding area when he was arrested and said no comment to most of the questions put to him.

Both men denied being involved in hare coursing.

Inspector Chris Davis, Rural Crime Action Team, said: “The arrest and sentencing of Johnson and Pritchard will ensure rural communities and the environment are protected from them.

“Should they choose to reoffend or breach their Criminal Behaviour Order or keep dogs within the next 15 years, they can be placed back before of the courts.

“Thousands of pounds can often change hands through betting on dogs and the dogs themselves can be extremely valuable. The dogs are bred and their puppies, which are often produced in illegal and mass breeding conditions, are sold.

“The common misunderstanding this type of offending is just a few people taking hares for the pot is unfounded. These viewpoints are outdated; this type of rural crime is cruel, well organised and very damaging to the rural community as well as the diversity of wildlife in our environment.

“Brown hares are protected by the Game Act 1831 and is a priority species due to significant reductions in the population. For this reason, the brown hare was included in the Government’s list of priority species for nature conservation and a biodiversity action plan setting out the conservation action needed.”

Pritchard, 43, from Manor Gardens, Dawley, Telford; and Johnson, 45, from Lynchgate, Burbage, Leicestershire, appeared at Boston Magistrates Court on 11 October. They changed their plea from not guilty to guilty on the day of their trial.

They pleaded guilty to being at Fengate Road, West Pinchbeck, Spalding on 17 December 23, with two sight hounds, a dog tracking device, a thermal imagining scope, and slip leads, with the intention that they could be used in the course of or in connection by a person, in the commission of an offence of trespass with intent to search for or pursue hares.

Contrary to Section 64 of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022.

They were each fined £900 and ordered to pay costs of £820. Compensation was ordered for kennelling and vet fees of £5350 for each dog.

They were each given Criminal Behaviour Orders for 15 years. The orders prohibit them from entering Lincolnshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and Nottinghamshire between 31 July and 30 April with or in company of anyone with dogs of any breed, and not to be in those counties with any equipment to be used for poaching either during day or night-time.

They were each disqualified from keeping a dog for 15 years. They were also handed orders depriving them of their dogs. This means their dogs Gyp and Jess will be rehomed.

Items seized from the two men that are commonly used in the course of hare coursing will not be returned to them; two mobile phones, GPS tracker collars, binoculars, thermal imaging scope, collars and leads.

Johnson was also given a Depravation Order to deprive him of his rights to the Vauxhall Astra van.