Three men accused of committing offences under Section 1 of the Night Poaching Act 1828, pleaded guilty at Northampton Magistrates’ Court. The trio were charged with trespassing on private land for the purpose of catching wildlife after a suspicious van parked near Moonshine Gap in Wellingborough, on December 5 last year, was reported to Northamptonshire Police. […]

A joint initiative to tackle hare coursing across the East of England has led to the first person to be fined for breaching a Community Protection Notice (CPN) served under the scheme. Sydney Samuels, 33, of Oxford Gardens, Maidstone, was handed a £400 fine when he appeared at Medway Magistrates’ Court on 19 May 2022. […]

A joint team including officers from Northumbria Police, RSPCA and the NWCU, executed warrants at two properties Officers from the Northumbria Police Rural Crime Team and Alnwick and Hexham NPT alongside partners from the RSPCA and National Wildlife Crime Unit executed warrants at two addresses, one in Hexham and a second in Longframlington.  The force […]

NWCU welcome Insp Amy Hunter as the new lead for the Poaching Priority Delivery Group in England & Wales Amy Hunter is a Police Inspector from North Yorkshire Police, she is currently the Staff Officer to Chief Constable Lisa Winward and Deputy Chief Constable Phil Cain. Amy started her career with North Yorkshire Police in 2010, […]

An exciting new opportunity has arisen for a Police Officer to lead the Poaching Priority Delivery Group for England & Wales: Poaching Priority Delivery Group – Chairperson Required 15th March 2021 An exciting development opportunity has arisen for an Inspector, Chief Inspector or Superintendent to take up the Chair of the Poaching Priority Delivery Group […]

Dedicated rural police officers have secured criminal behaviour orders for three men convicted of hare coursing in Essex after a 17-month investigation. On 13 October 2019, a farmer reported to us that four men with lurcher dogs were walking across his land in West Hanningfield, and were believed to be hare coursing. During the call, […]

Two men were released under investigation after reports of hare coursing near Warminster. Police were called at about 1.15pm on Thursday, February 25 2021 reporting suspicious activity on farmland in the Boyton area. Officers attended and pursued a silver Honda CR-V after it failed to stop. The National Police Air Service (NPAS) assisted and located […]

Three hare coursers arrested and seven others summoned to appear in court in the East Riding of Yorkshire. Wildlife & Rural Crime Sergeant Jenna Jones, leading the new Rural Task Force, said, “We are continuing to receive reports each weekend of groups of people and dogs on private land across the East Riding. “These reports […]

Hampshire pair Luke Ockendon, 24, and Edward Goddard, 52, were caught poaching on farmland in Collingbourne Ducis, on Salisbury Plain, in December 2019. Appearing before Swindon Magistrates’ Court in January 2021, Goddard, of Winchester Street, Botley, and Ockendon, of Manor Park Drive, Yateley, pleaded guilty to hunting a wild animal with a dog on December […]

Two men will appear in court charged with poaching and COVID-19 offences. On the afternoon of Saturday 23 January 2021, police were called to a report that suspected poachers were chasing hares with a dog in a field near Chapel Haddlesey, Selby. North Yorkshire Police officers attended immediately, and arrested two men in their 30s. […]