Two dogs, Gyp and Jess, will be heading to new homes after the courts ordered their confiscation when two men were convicted of hare hunting offences.

The dogs will be rehomed following the sentencing of William Johnson and Scott Pritchard Friday in Boston Magistrate Court.

Both men pleaded guilty to being equipped for or with intent to search for or pursue hares, following an incident in the south of the county on December 17 last year.

They were also given criminal behavior orders for 15 years, banning them from keeping their confiscated dogs, van and equipment. They will have to pay fines and costs of more than £14,000.

The orders prohibit them from entering Lincolnshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and Nottinghamshire between July 31 and April 30 with or in the company of any person owning dogs of any breed, and from being in these counties with poaching equipment, whether during the day or night.

An investigation by Lincolnshire Police’s Rural Crime Action Team was launched after reports of suspected hare chases were received into the force’s control room.

Shortly before 9 a.m. on Sunday, December 17, a man was seen with two animals running on land; the animals had disappeared into the tall grass.

One of the animals was thought to be a dog due to its size. The caller believed the man was chasing a hare. A Vauxhall van is believed to be involved, with a road maintenance sticker on the back.

Thirty minutes later the distinctive Vauxhall van was spotted and stopped by officers on Winsover Road in Spalding. Johnson and Pritchard were in the vehicle with two long dogs in the trunk. There was an orange beacon in the van.

The men could not give a reasonable explanation for their presence in Lincolnshire, or why they had been seen only five minutes away, in West Pinchbeck. With the dogs, they had cell phones, a thermal imaging scope and sliding leashes. They were arrested because they were equipped to search for or pursue hares with dogs.

The investigation revealed damning images on one of the seized phones. Three images recovered from Pritchard’s phone showed a black and white dog on a lead with a dead hare next to it, the dog off the lead with fur in the dog’s mouth and the same dog with another dead hare.

Asked in an interview, Pritchard said the images were taken while he was on land near Telford, where he and another member of his family had permission to control pests.

ANPR inquiries showed his distinctive Vauxhall van was seen in Lincolnshire on the same day he claimed to be in Telford, driven by a man matching his description; it was thought that the same man was chasing the hare.

Similar hare-running incidents had been reported on four separate dates, with the same distinctive vehicle described, a medium-sized white van with an amber light on the roof and a road maintenance sticker on the rear.

In an interview, Pritchard said someone who looked like him must have cloned his vehicle.

In relation to his vehicle being seen in West Pinchbeck, he said he stopped there to use the toilet but did not take the dogs out of the van.

During his interview, Johnson said one of the dogs, Jess, belonged to his aunt and that he had come to pick Jess up to look after her for Christmas. He declined to provide further details about his aunt. No one came forward to claim the dog.

Johnson said his aunt lived in Boston, which he believed to be on the outskirts of Skegness. In reality, there are 22 miles between the two places. The normal way to get home to Telford from Boston or Skegness would not have been to go south to the Spalding area. He did not explain why he was in the Spalding area when he was arrested and made no comment on most questions asked of him.

Both men denied taking part in a hare hunt.

Inspector Chris Davis, of the Rural Crime Action Team, said: “The arrest and conviction of Johnson and Pritchard will ensure that rural communities and the environment are protected.

“If they choose to re-offend or breach their Criminal Behavior Order or Keep Dogs within the next 15 years, they may be referred to court.
“Thousands of pounds can often change hands when betting on dogs and the dogs themselves can be extremely valuable. The dogs are bred and their puppies, often produced under conditions of illegal and mass breeding, are sold.

“The common misunderstanding regarding this type of offense, according to which a few people are mistaken, is unfounded. These views are outdated; this type of rural crime is cruel, well organized and very damaging to the rural community as well as the diversity of wildlife in our environment.

“Brown hares are protected by the Game Act 1831 and are a priority species due to significant population reductions. It is for this reason that the brown hare was included in the government list of priority species for nature conservation and in a biodiversity action plan defining the necessary conservation actions.

Pritchard, 43, of Dawley, Telford; and Johnson, 45, from Burbage, Leicestershire, appeared at Boston Magistrates Court on October 11. They changed their plea from not guilty to guilty on the day of their trial.

They pleaded guilty to being at Fengate Road, West Pinchbeck, Spalding on 17Dec23, with two hunting dogs, a dog tracking device, a thermal imaging scope and sliding leads, with the intention that ‘they may be used in the course of, or in connection with, a person, in the commission of the offense of trespassing with intent to seek out or pursue hares.

Contrary to section 64 of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022.
They were each fined £900 and ordered to pay costs of £820. Compensation was ordered for kennel and vet costs of £5,350 for each dog.

They each received criminal behavior orders for 15 years.

They were each banned from keeping a dog for 15 years. They were also ordered to deprive them of their dogs. This means their dogs Gyp and Jess will be rehomed.
The items seized from the two men and which are commonly used during hare hunting will not be returned to them; two cell phones, GPS tracking collars, binoculars, thermal imaging scope, collars and leashes.

Johnson was also given a deprivation order to strip him of his rights to the Vauxhall Astra van.

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