League withdraws from private prosecution of hunt

The case against six members of the Lamerton Hunt that was being heard at Newton Abbot Magistrates Court was withdrawn by the League Against Cruel Sports on the 3rd December 2015. Each of the six members was being prosecuted for by the League for hunting a wild mammal with dogs contrary to Section 1 of the Hunting Act 2004 for an alleged incident that took place on the 26th March 2014 following a meet which was held at Holdstrong Bungalow near Lydford in Devon. A League spokesman said: “The League was advided to withdraw from the trial following a prolonged cross-examination of our expert witness, internationally renowned small mammal expert Professor Steve Haris, which alleged that he wasn’t impartial. We’ve taken legal advice and are withdrawing because without the evidence given by Professor Harris, we would be unable to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the defendants were guilty of an offence. We still strongly believe that the Lamerton Hunt were hunting illegally and strongly encourage people to look at the video footage and decide for themselves what they are seeing”. The spokesman went on to say: “We stand by our decision to take this private prosecution. We cannot let hunts get away with what we still believe is a bang to rights case of illegal hunting. We wanted the judicial process to make a decision on this case and we want the world to know that the League Against Cruel Sports will not stand by and let hunts flout the law. We may have had to withdraw, but anyone with common sense can see what they are doing”.