Two men lose their dogs and are fined £14k for hare coursing offences 

The decision has been made by Boston Magistrates’ Court following the sentencing of William Johnson and Scott Pritchard. 

The men pleaded guilty to being equipped for or with the intention to search for or pursue hares, after an incident in the south of the county that happened on 17th 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, 17th December, a man was seen with two animals that were running over land and 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. 

Cloned vehicle 

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 the interview, the man 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. 

Pritchard, 43, 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 gotten the dogs out of the van. 

Aunt’s dog 

When interviewed, Johnson, 45, 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, police confirmed.

Johnson said his aunt lived in Boston, which he believed to be on the outskirts of Skegness. In reality, there are 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 initially denied being involved in hare coursing, however, they changed their plea from not guilty to guilty on the day of their trial. 

They were each fined £900 and ordered to pay costs of £820. Compensation was ordered for kennelling and vet fees of £5,350 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 31st July and 30th 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 and were also handed orders depriving them of their dogs.  

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

Items seized from the two men that are commonly used in the course of hare coursing will not be returned to them. 

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