Four men deny charges of illegal fox hunting

Four members of a hunt have told a court they did not intentionally hunt a fox with hounds on two occasions.

Robert Gurney, Edward Bell, Adam Egginton and Andrew Kendal are on trial at Great Yarmouth Magistrates' Court accused of offences in Hingham, near Watton, and Tittleshall, near Fakenham, Norfolk.

Prosecutors argued that on 8 February and 20 February 2023, dogs on two trail hunts were dangerously out of control, causing criminal damage and killing a fox.

District Judge Matthew Bone is expected to hear closing statements on Friday before considering verdicts.

The West Norfolk Hunt members say they had been following a trail, which is allowed by law, but that the hounds picked up a live fox, which they then pursued.

Mr Gurney, 55, from Bawdeswell, near Dereham, and Mr Kendall, 67, from Henstead, near Lowestoft, Suffolk, are both masters with the hunt.

Mr Bell, 31, of Necton, near Swaffham, had served over five years for the hunt at the time of the alleged offences.

He claimed that on 8 February at Tittleshall, he had not seen a fox and only became aware of one when video footage later emerged.

Asked by Stephen Welford, defending, what he would have done had he seen the hounds were following the line of the fox, he said: "I would have tried to get in front of them and lifted their heads."

He said he would have cracked his whip and used his horn to call the hounds.

On the alleged incident in Hingham, Mr Bell said he heard the dogs "speak", indicating they had switched from a scent trail to tracking a live fox.

"The hounds were hunting [a fox]. I did everything I could to get in front of them," he said.

The court heard how the hounds entered a garden where a fox was killed, but Mr Bell said he was not aware of this at the time.

In cross-examination Mark Jackson, prosecuting, said Mr Bell had received a phone call seconds before the hounds got on the trail of fox.

"The call you received was to tell you a fox had been spotted. And that prompted you to turn that pack around and go after that fox," he said.

Mr Bell replied: "No it didn't. As far as I was concerned they were hunting a trail."

At the time of the incidents, Mr Egginton, now of Worcester, was working his first season as whipper-in.

His role was to support the huntsman and to help with exercising and care of the hounds, which he said would not obey him if Mr Bell was present.

Mr Welford asked: "Were you intentionally pursuing that fox using hounds?"

He replied: "Not at all."

Mr Jackson, cross-examining said: "I suggest on the Hingham day, like Mr Bell, you did nothing because you wanted to play out the hounds chasing that fox.

"You knew they were on the scent of a fox. That's true, isn't it?"

Mr Egginton replied: "That's not true."

Mr Kendall, 67, of Henstead, near Lowestoft, said as joint hunt master, he had no command of the hounds, but did sometimes help set scent trails.

Charged with offences relating to the incident in Hingham, he claimed he was not aware that a fox had entered a garden and that no illegal fox hunt had been organised that day.

Mr Gurney was also joint hunt master, but said his role was more to do with horses, fundraising and maintaining hunt property.

He said the dogs would not listen to him and that his role would not cause him to interfere with the hunt.

He said he "didn't know" the hounds were pursuing a fox.

The trial continues.

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