Hartlepool quartet guilty of poaching on Birdsall Estate
Date of alert:
Wednesday 6 September 2023
Crime Ref:
Force:
North Yorkshire Police
Four poachers are having to get rid of their family pets and pay at least £1,490 each after they were convicted of illegal animal hunting in Ryedale.
York Magistrates' Court heard that the four had travelled more than 60 miles from their homes in the middle of the night in a Jeep before they damaged crops near Birdsall by driving over them and shone a very powerful lamp into fields that reflected off the cloud cover.
James Willoughby, who runs Birdsall Estate, gave evidence that he was on the lookout for poachers on November 19 and first spotted the four at about 1.25am.
They appeared to be driving over fields using a very powerful lamp that reflected off the sky.
Magistrates banned each from owning or keeping dogs for two years and gave them 28 days to find new homes for their pets.
