Two guilty of wildlife offences after fox attack

Three people were charged after video footage was shared online

Two men have pleaded guilty to wildlife offences after a video of a fox being unearthed and attacked by hounds was shared online.

Aaron Fookes, 30, from Somerset, and Stuart Radbourne, 39, from Wiltshire, appeared at Swindon Magistrates' Court.

They were former members of the Avon Vale hunt which has since been expelled by the sport's governing body.

Alex Warden, 25, also charged with wildlife offences, will appear at Salisbury Magistrates' Court on 7 July.

Mr Warden, of Wood Road, North Bradley, and Fookes, of Templecombe, were charged with hunting a wild mammal with dogs contrary to the Hunting Act 2004, and causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal.

Radbourne and Fookes have pleaded guilty to wildlife offences

Fookes was sentenced to 200 hours of community service and fined £1,200.

Radbourne, of The Common, Bromham, who faced one charge of hunting a wild mammal with dogs, received a £580 fine.

Defence lawyer Sam Harkness said the "high profile" of the case had "destroyed the lives of the two defendants" and both had since lost their jobs.

The prosecution referenced a video to the court which they said showed Fookes "pulling a live fox out of a den".

Radbourne was then "heard making whooping noises to get the hounds wound up", they added.

Fookes then "threw the fox to the hounds who smother it".

Two other people arrested earlier in the year will face no further action.