Three hare coursers fined over £1,000 following multiple offences
20th May 2024
Three men have pleaded guilty to multiple hare coursing offences and have been ordered to pay over £1,000 in fines.
In November 2023, Humberside Police officers were called to a farmland near Rawcliffe Bridge following reports of a group of men hare coursing.
The officers from the local rural task force used drones and high-powered 4×4 vehicles to locate the hare coursers. The men were arrested at the scene.
Hare coursers fined
All three men pleaded guilty to hunting wild mammals with dogs, trespassing with intent to search for or to pursue hares with dogs, being equipped to trespass with intent to search for or to pursue hares with dogs, and trespassing on a railway.
Humberside Police confirmed that Joel Miller, 27, of Rhyl, North Wales, was fined £199, issued a community order, required to undertake 120 hours of unpaid work, and disqualified from driving for 42 days.
James Callaghan, 46, of Chester was fined £199, issued a community order, required to undertake 120 hours of unpaid work, excluded from entering the East Riding of Yorkshire for 12 months, and was issued a forfeiture order for the destruction of recording devices.
Connor Waring, 25, of Chester was fined £624.
Sending a message
Rural crime officer PC Sam Blakeborough, who led the investigation, said: “I am really pleased with the outcome at court as we have continued in our targeted activity to disrupt and combat hare coursing in our communities.
“For Callaghan, the exclusion from entering the East Riding of Yorkshire is a first for Humberside Police outside any criminal behaviour order.
“I hope this outcome sends a message to those who wish to conduct hare coursing activity that Humberside is a no-go area and that the Rural Task Force seek to take robust action to deter and prosecute those committing these types of offences.”
PC Blakeborough thanked members of the public, local landowners and the local farmwatch for supporting this prosecution and assisting in bringing the offenders to justice.
“I would always encourage those who are victims of rural crime to come forward and be assured that we will support them with pursuing offenders, securing convictions and making our rural areas safer to live and work,” he added.
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