A hunting duo have been convicted after a video showed a fox being thrown to a pack of hounds.
Whipper-in Aaron Fookes, 29, and then-hunt master Stuart Radbourne, 39, appeared at Swindon Magistrates’ Court charged with fox hunting today (Wednesday).
Both men, previously members of the banned Avon Vale Hunt, pleaded guilty to the charge – with Fookes also admitting a second charge of causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal.
Crown prosecutor Patrick Schneider said the pair had been hunting in Brokerswood, Wiltshire, when video footage – which was later leaked to anti-hunt activists – was taken of them.
The footage, taken on 20 December 2022, showed Fookes kneeling down over the entrance of a badger sett with his arms down into it, pulling out a live fox. Radbourne is heard making whooping noises before the fox is chucked to a large pack of hounds and killed.
Solicitor Sam Harkness, representing both men, said that press coverage of the incident has “utterly destroyed the lives of the defendants”.
They were both left jobless, with Fookes leaving the county due to threats made against him.
The court was told that Radbourne has a previous conviction for interfering with a badger sett, for which he was fined £300 at Chippenham Magistrates’ Court in 2013.
Fookes now works as an agricultural contractor earning around £2,000 per month, whilst Radbourne is struggling with “significant debts” and earning £1,000 a month as a farmer and equestrian.
Fookes, of Townsend Green, Henstridge, Somerset, was handed an 18-month community order for the animal cruelty matter. He must complete 200 hours of unpaid work. For the fox hunting offence, he was fined £833 and must pay £42.50 costs and a £330 surcharge.
Radbourne, of The Common, Bromham, was fined £384 and told to pay £42.50 costs and a £154 surcharge.
In February, after footage of this incident was circulated on social media, the Hound Sports Regulatory Authority (HSRA) panel barred the Avon Vale Hunt – meaning the group could no longer operate.
After viewing the footage, naturalist Chris Packham spoke out – saying it was “not an isolated incident” and called for the practice of fox hunting to end.
Speaking to ITV News, he said: “To witness this barbarity, this pre-meditated callous cruelty inflicted on a wild animal in the UK countryside in the 21st century is absolutely sickening.
“But this is the brutal face of fox hunting. This is not an isolated incident. We see this week in week out and the hunts have been exposed for saying that they practice trail hunting -as indeed this hunt proclaimed as well.
“Well, that is not trail hunting. That is fox hunting pure and simple, and it is illegal. And I sincerely hope that all of those who are identifiable in this video are brought to justice.
“This insidious vile habit has to be stamped out once and for all.”
