Hunt riders failed to stop fox pursuit, court told

Two members of the Portman Hunt are accused of illegal fox-hunting

Two hunt riders appeared to do nothing to control hounds that were chasing a fox, a court has heard.

The members of the Portman Hunt - the master, Tom Lyle, 36, and whipper-in, Marcus Boundy, 23 - deny illegally hunting a wild mammal with dogs near Stourpaine, Dorset, on 15 September 2022.

Drone footage, shot by hunt saboteurs, showed several riders spaced around the edge of a maize field with hounds running through the crop, Weymouth magistrates were told.

Martin Sims, a former director of investigations for the League Against Cruel Sports and an ex-senior police officer, told the court it "had the appearance of what traditional fox hunting is about".

A fox broke cover from the field and ran into a wood, magistrates were told.

Mr Sims, a former head of the police National Wildlife Crime Unit, said: "Nothing appears to be done to stop the hounds in any shape or form as they come across."

He said the defendants would have known the dogs had picked up a scent from the hounds' high-pitched cries.

In a police interview read to the court, Mr Lyle, of Bryanston, said he did not remember hunting a fox that day.

The huntsman-master, who was in charge of the hounds, told police the riders were "containing the scene to see what is going on", the court heard.

Mr Boundy, of Exford, Somerset, told police the riders were engaged in legal trail hunting, which involves following a scent laid along a pre-arranged course.

In the interview, PC Sebastian Haggett of Dorset Police asked him why the dogs veered suddenly in the video.

"It depends on where the trail was laid", the whipper-in replied.

The drone footage showed a pack of hounds trying to squeeze through a narrow gap in a wire fence to enter the wood, the court was told.

Mr Boundy was asked by the officer whether it was normal to lay a trail through a fence.

The defendant replied: "One-hundred per cent. Trail hunting would try to mimic the line a fox would take."

The court was also shown footage, released by the hunt, of a man using fox urine to lay a trail for the hunt that day.

On Monday, co-defendant Mark Pearson, 64, of Little Hanford near Child Okeford, was told no evidence would be offered against him.

The trial continues.