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Farmer fears hare coursing gang could strike again

John Devine & Harriet Heywood
BBC News, Cambridgeshire
John Devine/ BBC Mathew Latta is stood on the well-kept green grass in his back garden. He looks concerned. He has green eyes, grey hair and a wears a blue shirt and a grey gilet.John Devine/ BBC
Mathew Latta said he dialed 999 three times as a "mob" rampaged around his farm, but had "zero response" from the police

A farmer "effectively barricaded" in his home by a mob of hare coursers has said he is "sure it will happen again".

Mathew Latta said about 13 vehicles and 70 people rampaged across his 2,000 acre farm at Manea, near Ely, in Cambridgeshire, from about 13:00 GMT to 16:30 on Saturday.

Mr Latta, who has been on the farm for about 30 years, said it was "highly intimidating", and he had never seen anything like it on that scale before.

The county's Chief Constable, Nick Dean, has apologised at a public meeting for a "failure by the police" to deal with the hare coursers.

Mathew Latta A large green field on a farm is covered in deep tyre marks left by vehicles used by hare coursers. There are deep grooves in the land.Mathew Latta
Mr Latta said the gang damaged his land, driving across fields and tearing up crops

'Absolute mayhem'

Even though Mr Latta had spent "hundreds of thousands of pounds" on security measures, including ditches, gates and bollards, it did not deter the hare coursers.

He said they smashed gates, moved concrete blocks and drove over fields - while rounding up and killing hares.

"I counted 70 people within the crowd just tearing up our crops, chasing hares, chasing deers and running riot," he said.

"Unfortunately, I'm sure it will happen again - I hope not on this scale.

"It was unprecedented scenes on Saturday... absolute mayhem.

"There are one or two [hare coursers] on a regular basis and we can deal with that with the police, but what happened... there was no way we could handle it on our own and we had no help from the police, which was rather worrying."

Mathew Latta From a distance, a gang of hare coursers can be seen walking and driving through a field. The sun is setting and it is getting dark. Mathew Latta
Vehicles were used to drag concrete bollards aside so the hare coursers could get into fields, said Mr Latta

The villages of Fordham, Ely, Prickwillow, Littleport, Welney, Chatteris, Manea, Wimblington and Doddington were all affected by the hare coursers.

Police have released footage of another incident on Saturday showing people believed to be hare coursing in Therfield, near Royston in Hertfordshire.

In a police statement on Monday, local policing commander Supt Ben Martin said the force was "sorry we were unable to do more to stop the activities of these people at the time".

He added: "Due to the scale of the incident and the multiple locations where offences took place, as well as a significantly demanding weekend elsewhere in the county, we didn't have the resources available to deal with every report we received from members of the public."

Mathew Latta A 4x4 car has been abandoned in a field. It is covered in mud and the front part of the vehicle is hanging off. Mathew Latta
The gang abandoned some vehicles on the farm

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