RSPCA investigates after lawyer Jolyon Maugham kills fox with baseball bat

Jolyon Maugham is director of the Good Law Project

The RSPCA is investigating after a prominent lawyer said he killed a fox with a baseball bat.

Jolyon Maugham posted on Twitter on Thursday morning: "Already this morning I have killed a fox with a baseball bat. How's your Boxing Day going?"

The animal welfare charity tweeted that the claim was "distressing".

Mr Maugham, who has brought a number of legal challenges related to Brexit, later apologised if anyone was "upset" by his tweet.

He said the fox had got caught in protective netting around his chickens at his central London home and he "wasn't sure what else to do".

"My chickens were very distressed by the fox, both before and after I'd despatched it - and I wanted it out of the way quickly," he said in another tweet.

Giving further details, Mr Maugham said he had been wearing his wife's "too small green kimono" and nursing a hangover at the time.

Mr Maugham said he had spoken to the RSPCA and given them his contact details.

The RSPCA said in a tweet on Wednesday night: "We're aware of a situation regarding a fox, and would like to reassure people that we're investigating.

"Due to a very high volume of tweets, unfortunately we can't respond to every single one, and are unable to provide further comment right now. Thank you for your understanding."

Government guidelines state you can use cage traps and snares to catch foxes and you must "humanely kill any fox you catch while it's in the trap or snare".

Gassing or poisoning foxes is prohibited.

Mr Maugham is director of the Good Law Project and has been involved in several high-profile legal challenges, including against Boris Johnson's decision to suspend Parliament for five weeks.