Two men convicted of hare racing

Two men have each been ordered to pay £6,250 in fines and compensation for hare hunting offences.

William Johnson, 45, and Scott Pritchard, 43, were arrested in December after traveling with two dogs from the Midlands to Lincolnshire to kill hares, Lincolnshire Police said.

Evidence from Pritchard’s mobile phone showed images of a black and white dog on a leash with dead hares and another of the same dog with fur in its mouth.

Both men have pleaded guilty at Boston Magistrates’ Court to a number of offences, including being equipped for or intending to seek or pursue hares.

Pritchard, of Manor Gardens, Dawley, Telford and Johnson, of Lynchgate, Burbage, Leicestershire, were also each given a Criminal Behavior Order and banned from owning dogs for 15 years, while their van and equipment were seized when they both were sentenced on Friday. .

The pair were arrested after one of the men was reportedly seen with two animals, believed to be a dog, running across land and then disappearing into long grass, police said.

An Opel van with a highway maintenance sticker on the back was spotted and stopped by officers on Winsover Road in Spalding.

Johnson and Pritchard were in the vehicle, along with two long dogs in the trunk, an orange warning beacon, a thermal imaging scope and tow cables.

The van was seen on four different dates when hare-running incidents were reported to the police.

When Pritchard was interviewed by officers, he said someone who looked like him must have cloned his vehicle. While Johnson claimed one of the dogs belonged to his aunt and he cared for the pet over the Christmas period.

Inspector Chris Davis, from Lincolnshire Police, said: “This type of rural crime is vicious, highly organized and deeply damaging to the rural community and to the diversity of wildlife in our area.

“Brown hares are protected under the Game Act 1831 and are a priority species due to significant population declines. For this reason, the brown hare was included in the government’s list of priority species for nature conservation and in a biodiversity action plan detailing the necessary conservation measures.”

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