CPS bungling lets Crawley & Horsham huntsman off the hook

But the Countryside Alliance are trying to spin a different version of events

Updated 15th March 2021: the incident dates originally said 10th December 2020 and 20th January 2021, but have now been changed to the correct dates.

On the 10th March 2021, William Bishop, huntsman of the Crawley & Horsham Hunt (CHH) attended Worthing Magistrates Court. He was accused of hunting a wild mammal with dogs, contrary to the Hunting Act 2004, on two separate occasions. Video evidence allegedly shows a Fox being hunted by the hunts hounds on 10th December 2019 and 21st January 2020.

Both cases were dropped and Bishop was not prosecuted. The Countryside Alliance’s version of events is that the prosecution “offered no evidence” against Bishop though this was seemingly not the case.

Simon Wild, a hunt monitor who provided the evidence against the CHH, told The Citro that he was initially confident in both cases but was shocked by the proceedings:

One case was dropped as we arrived at court because [the] prosecuting council found the CPS [Crown Prosecution Service] and police had failed to provide the defence in advance with the relevant video footage. This weakened the general case considerably and was simply an unprofessional failing. 

Issues such as this are seen to be due to a lack of resources, one report claimed.

Dropping the ball

Bishop never gave evidence or answered any questions but made a “prepared statement”, which Wild never saw. He continued:

Neither the district Judge nor the prosecuting council knew anything about hunting. There was no expert witness as we had in earlier successful prosecutions. Consequently, witnesses mentioning “holding up” were stopped after an objection by the defence that such terms must be reserved for an expert (but there was no expert).  

During half-time, a submission of no case was made as Bishop allegedly did not see a fox. Wild explained the complications of the case: 

They used the appeal case of [Director of Public Prosecutions v Scott Wright]. However, this related to exploiting an exemption relating to using two hounds to flush a wild mammal to guns. In this, the appeal judge said an “identifiable wild mammal” must be seen. It was not necessarily relevant to a huntsman using a full pack of hounds. And in a more recent Fitzwilliam Hunt appeal case, the judge said the “huntsman have to be in control of his hounds”. The CPS Barrister was not fully aware of the Wright case and had no knowledge of the more recent [Fitzwilliam] case. She floundered and the case was thrown out.  

Even though both cases were dropped, the hunt weren’t seen as innocent: 

The judge said a fox was unlawfully hunted and wondered why the two whipper ins [who were] seen allowing the fox to be hunted were not in the dock.  

According to Wild, the judge also implied the hunt itself might have been given a “body corporate prosecution’; where the hunt, as a registered business, would face prosecution rather than an individual.  

Back in court

Bishop on this occasion may have walked away from Worthing Magistrates’ Court without a prosecution, but Wild confirmed he will appear again for similar charges: 

Two weeks ago police said they are serving two further summons on Bishop for unlawful hunting. We will simply have to make these cases more watertight, and will be making strong representations to police and [the] CPS. 

Wild believes the case could have a “big impact” on preventing the CPS from dropping future cases: 

We are liaising closely with Martin Sims, who is former head of UK Wildlife Crime and now works for the League Against Cruel Sports. He is hoping to have meetings with the CPS and as he also helps Sussex Police on their training. 

The outcome of this is yet to be seen. On this occasion however, errors by the CPS meant Bishop was able to avoid prosecution, though he may not have such luck at his next court appearance. Bishop was not found guilty, but he is far from innocent.

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Headline image via West Sussex Hunt Saboteurs