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Hare coursing law fight 'vindicated'
ANIMAL rights campaigners yesterday secured landmark private convictions against TV chef Clarissa Dickson Wright and racehorse trainer Sir Mark Prescott for hare coursing – claiming both nearly escaped justice because of their celebrity status.
Both defendants were given absolute discharges, but Judge Kristina Harrison underlined that no hare courser would ever get off so lightly again because the law was now clear.
But although the case had been dealt with, there may be a further court hearing into an allegation that a "middle ranking police officer did not want to prosecute Dickson Wright or Prescott because they did not want a media circus".
Judge Harrison halted the proceedings mid-morning, asking for a representative of the Crown Prosecution Service be present in the Scarborough court to respond to the allegation by John Cooper, prosecuting for the International Fund for Animal Welfare.
When the court reconvened, Mr Cooper named former District Commander Helen Taylor as one of two officers wanting to avoid a "media hoo-hah". Ms Taylor, now an acting detective superintendent, based at Northallerton, could not be contacted because she is on holiday, the judge was told
So Judge Harrison said she was prepared to sit again when the officer has returned so she could have a right of reply if she wished. It was agreed the IFAW would also be present if there was such a hearing.
Rosie McIlroy, the CPS lawyer who initially advised on the case, said she had advised that Prescott and Dickson Wright be interviewed by police "as a matter of urgency" because they could be identified on a film taken of the events by the IFAW.
However this was not done, and because neither defendant had been interviewed by police in the time limits the CPS decided not to prosecute.
The court heard the official explanation by the CPS for not prosecuting Dickson Wright or Prescott was it was targeting event organisers and it was not in the public interest to press charges against spectators.
But Mr Cooper pointed out that the five people originally prosecuted by the CPS did include a spectator, though the charge was later dropped.
Mrs McIlroy said that had Dickson Wright and Prescott been interviewed by police they would have been charged, along with landowners Peter Easterby and Major John Shaw, who were convicted of hare coursing offences at an earlier hearing.
She had contacted an officer in the case in the Isle of Wight and he insisted the issue of the celebrity status of the suspects had not been raised.
It was simply that the case officers were unable to interview all those involved in the time available.
Yesterday Dickson Wright and Prescott, who did not attend the Scarborough hearing, each admitted through their solicitors two charges of attending hare coursing events.
Mr Cooper said the pleas were a "vindication" of the charity's decision to mount the prosecution over events on Easterby and Shaw's land in March 2007.
He told the court it was not clear to what extent the police attitude had influenced the CPS's decision not to prosecute, adding: "We are critical of any officer who did not want to prosecute because they did not want a media hoo-hah – and are sure anyone else would be as well."
Both defendants received absolute discharges and the judge refused a prosecution application for costs.
She hoped the case would send a clear message to anyone contemplating attending such events.
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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