Home / Poaching media / Man ‘glorified’ hare coursing as he filmed his dogs chasing and savaging the animals on his phone

Man ‘glorified’ hare coursing as he filmed his dogs chasing and savaging the animals on his phone


Leo Price filmed himself hare coursing with his lurchers. The dogs have since been forefeited to the RSPCA. Picture: RSPCA

Leo Price filmed himself hare coursing with his lurchers. The dogs have since been forfeited to the RSPCA. Picture: RSPCA

The videos came to light after police and the RSPCA raided Leo Price’s home at the Brooks Green travellers site on Mangreen Lane, Keswick on June 11 2018.

They found a cache of guns, ammunition and cannabis plants. Price was jailed for seven years on January 11 this year for possession of the firearms and cannabis. But five lurchers were also seized from the site, along with Price’s mobile phone. When RSPCA inspector Carroll Lamport examined Price’s phone he found images of dead hares and videos of Price setting his dogs loose across fields to chase them.

“The critical evidence comes from those videos,” said prosecutor Jonathan Eales. “The evidence in this case is from his own phone.”

Price, currently a serving prisoner at HMP Wayland, refused to come to court and the case was proved in his absence. The 26-year-old was convicted of six counts of hunting a wild mammal with dogs, between January and April of last year. The court also ordered the dogs to be forfeited so the RSPCA can find new homes for them. Mr Eales said: “The dogs have been boarded at the expense of the RSPCA since June 2018, and at the expense of the dogs’ own welfare. The cost of boarding these dogs runs into thousands of pounds. The sole reason for this prosecution is to deal with the five dogs seized from the premises”.

In July 2019, Magistrates ordered forfeiture of the dogs and fined Price £100 for each of the six counts. They also ordered him to pay £500 court costs and a £30 victim surcharge.

Source: Eastern Daily Press

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