Man fined by police after messages reveal him bragging about fox hunting
This follows an investigation by Gloucestershire Constabulary and Leicestershire Police's Rural Crime teams
A man has been fined more than £1000 - thanks to a joint investigation by Rural Crime teams in the Midlands and the South West.
Work by the forces at Gloucestershire Police and Leicestershire Police uncovered messages which showed him bragging and admitting to the hunting of foxes - which is an illegal activity, and made illegal in 2005.
The investigation saw 37-year-old John Oliver Finnegan from Northwich in Cheshire plead guilty at Cheltenham Magistrates' Court on Tuesday (6 December) to hunting a wild mammal with dogs.
The Huntsman for the Leicestershire-based group gave the plea of guilty on the first day of the trial.
Following the plea, Finnegan was ordered to pay £1331 within 28 days after being convicted under the Hunting Act of 2004.
What the forces uncovered
On Friday 7 January, police were contacted as local hunt monitors had seen a group illegally hunting on land in the village of Hartpury.
They'd been filmed - with footage showing Finnegan taking along with him a number of 'hounds' into some woodland.
That all was happening whilst the rest of the hunt waited on the perimeter - with the hounds then being seen 'loudly and aggressively barking' as they fled the very same woodlands.
Police then say moments later, the hounds were indicating a mammal had gone underground - as the hounds themselves were digging into a hole, which was either a fox den or a badger sett.
The group were approximately 20 metres away and used their horn to control the hounds before calling them away.
Finnegan and other members of the group were later seen racing horses along the road however the hounds were not with them.
They could, however, be heard in a derelict building nearby.
This evidence was handed to police - before officers then linked Finnegan to the incident after his mobile phone was seized by Leicestershire Police in relation to offences believed to have been committed in their area.
As part of the investigation his phone was downloaded and WhatsApp messages showed him admitting to hunting mammals. The conversations made reference to the January hunt in Gloucestershire and discussed his involvement.
Examples of the WhatsApp messages included:
From: Other huntsman
• How’d you get on at ledbury today?
From: Finnegan
• S**t only found a brace, first one by Redvers House got headed about 20 times and went to ground. The second was on a brook at the back of the mares yard he went 5 fields to a real thick cover by griffin’s which we weren’t aloud in and had to stop them
The police's investigation concludes
Finnegan was postal charged with the offence following consultation with the Crown Prosecution Service.
PC Phil Mawdsley from Gloucestershire Constabulary's Rural Crime Team said: "This has been a lengthy investigation into an incident of fox hunting concerning Finnegan, who at the time, was the huntsman for the Quorn Hunt based in Leicestershire.
"On 7 January this year he joined up with the Ledbury Hunt and led an illegal fox hunt through the area of Hartpury in Gloucestershire.
"His actions were witnessed and reported to police. An investigation was launched by the team and with assistance from Leicestershire Police's Rural Crime Team evidence of the offence was uncovered through phone messages which showed Finnegan bragging and admitting to the illegal hunting of foxes.
"This case sends a clear reminder for hunts, both nationally and locally, that breaches of the Hunting Act 2004 will not be tolerated by Gloucestershire Constabulary and those caught breaking the law will be sent to court."
Sergeant Paul Archer from Leicestershire Police's rural policing team added: "When we examined Finnegan’s phone, we found a number of messages which implicated him in hunting foxes in Gloucestershire.
“We are always proactive in working with other forces and these messages were passed on, resulting in colleagues from Gloucestershire being able to charge him with offences related to fox-hunting.
“We will continue to investigate any reports of illegal hunting and work with our rural communities going forward.”
Last year Gloucestershire Constabulary became the first police force nationally to launch three new online reporting tools for rural, wildlife and heritage crimes.
To report any rural or wildlife crime, you can found out more about the forms or report a rural, wildlife or heritage crime by visiting their website.