Marlborough farm worker hurt confronting suspected hare-coursers

Hare-coursing was made illegal in 2004

A farm worker has been hurt after trying to photograph a car driven by suspected hare-coursers.

The man, from Marlborough in Wiltshire, claimed the driver drove at him deliberately knocking him to the ground on Sunday 21 August.

He was then dragged several metres receiving injuries to his leg and hand.

Wiltshire Police said they are looking for three suspects who were in a white Citroën car.

The farm worker, a man in his 40s, was left with minor injuries which he declined to attend hospital for, police said.

A Marlborough farm worker received injuries to his leg and boot damage

Stubble fields expose the hares to criminal gangs and their dogs

The injured man, who asked to remain anonymous, was left shocked and shaken with bruises, cuts and grazing to his leg and hand, and damage to his knee.

He says he was on his way to the farm in Wilton near Marlborough, when he saw the white Citroën driving across the middle of a newly harvested stubble field.

"I ran across the field to try and take a picture of the car's number plate as it was leaving by the lane," he said.

The car's wing mirror was found on the verge after the incident

"The driver swung across the lane onto the verge, knocking me down, which rolled me into the road," he continued.

"I tried to pick myself up but they came at me again and that's when they dragged me down the road for four or five yards and then stopped.

"I was able to drag myself out from under the car and threw myself into the hedge."

As the car drove away he was able to see the first part of its number plate which he has passed onto Wiltshire Police

Farmer David Lemon says hare-coursers visit his farm up to three times a week

The injured man works for farmer David Lemon, who explained that the stubble fields left after harvest, give plenty of room for hares to run in and this attracts the coursers, who use dogs to chase and kill the animals.

Criminal gangs can make thousands of pounds betting on the outcome of each chase.

"We dig trenches and put logs up across gateways. But, at times, we are still visited two or three times a week by hare-coursers," said Mr Lemon.

"They mostly come at night and drive through to field to set the hares off and then slip the dogs' leads," he said.

The farm worker asked to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals

Mr Lemon said the gangs are "threatening and menacing".

Talking to the BBC shortly before the farm worker was injured, Wiltshire's Police and Crime Commissioner, Philip Wilkinson, said hare-coursing was part of a wider network of organised crime.

He said hare-coursing is only one element of crime that is coming out of "a larger network of organised crime" which is "across the whole of the country".

Mr Wilkinson says he will be working with crime commissioners in the South and West to take the gangs down.

The police are appealing for anyone who may have witnessed the incident, or remembers seen a white Citroën car with three white men being driven in the area.