Illegal hunter admits killing pregnant roe deer in North Yorkshire wood

A second man was fined after he admitted destroying a rabbit.

Northallerton Magistrates Court heard police on rural patrol found a Peugeot 206 car parked in a wood near Eryholme - close to the A167 between Croft on Tees and Northallerton - in the early hours of March 9 2015.

Officers saw John Michael Ginty, 25, and Marcus Owen Batey, 25, returning to the car with two large lurcher dogs and two lamps.

Ginty had blood on his hands and clothes.

A dead pregnant roe deer, with injuries to its neck and hind legs, was found a short distance from the road,

Both men were arrested and a forensic investigation was carried out, which revealed blood found on Ginty was from the dead deer.

Ginty, of Edison Way, Middlesborough, admitted killing a deer at night under the Deer Act 1991 and hunting a wild mammal with dogs under the Hunting Act 2004.

He was handed a ten-week prison sentence, suspended for 18 months and ordered to pay fines and costs totalling £480.

Batey, of Cannock Road, Middlesborough, pleaded guilty to trespassing on land at night and destroying a rabbit under the Night Poaching Act 1828.

He was ordered to pay fines and costs totalling £430.

PC John Wilbor, a wildlife crime officer at North Yorkshire Police, said: “This conviction shows the extent that forensics will be used to prove wildlife offences, and should send a strong message that this horrendous activity of causing animals to suffer is unacceptable.”