Three men sentenced over East Yorkshire hare coursing offences

Three men appeared at Beverley Magistrates' Court on charges on Monday, following an incident in December last year

Three men have been sentenced after pleading guilty to hare coursing offences in East Yorkshire.

John Langan, Shane Hooton and Joseph Foster were charged last year after being stopped by police as they left private farmland in Leven.

At Beverley Magistrates' Court on Monday, Langan was sentenced to 12 weeks in prison, suspended for 12 months, and he was fined £239.

Meanwhile, Hooton and Foster were each fined a total of £785.

Langan, 37, of The Hawthorns, Great Ayton, Hooton, 31, of Thistle Hill, Knaresborough, and Foster, 35, of Manton Crescent, Worksop, had all pleaded guilty to trespass with intent to pursue hares with dogs.

The three were arrested with a fourth man in December 2022 after being found trespassing on farmland while in possession of running dogs, according to Humberside Police.

In addition to a suspended prison sentence, Langan was issued with a ban on entering the area.

He was also given a 10-year Criminal Behaviour Order (CBO) covering England and Wales, with conditions around the control of dogs and not being on private farmland without permission, police said.

Additionally, he was disqualified from driving for 56 days and ordered to complete 80 hours of unpaid supervised work within the next 12 months.

The court sentenced both Hooton and Foster to a £500 fine each, and they were also each ordered to pay £85 costs and £200 victim surcharges.

Hooton was also given a three-year CBO with the same conditions as Langan's.

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Speaking after the sentencing, Sgt Kevin Jones said: "This is Humberside Police's first suspended prison sentence for hare coursing offences, our longest CBO of 10 years and fines and costs totalling over £1,800.

"It certainly sends out a message such offences are taken seriously by the criminal justice system and will not be tolerated by Humberside Police."

A fourth man, Dean Adams, 27, of Hebron Drive, Stokesley, faced similar charges, but failed to appear in court and a warrant for his arrest had been issued, police said.

Hare coursing - in which dogs are used to chase and kill the animals - was made illegal in 2004.

New measures to tackle the activity were introduced in August 2022. Since then anyone caught hare coursing can face an unlimited fine and up to six months in prison.