Thames Valley Police has “filed” its investigation of the Kimblewick Hunt
Despite evidence that sabs call "utterly conclusive"
The Hunt Saboteurs Association (HSA) has said that an investigation into the Kimblewick Hunt has been dropped. The incident occurred on 12th December 2020 at an industrial estate in Ford, Buckinghamshire, and gained notoriety because of the volume of video evidence. As a result, the dropped case has generated disbelief and anger among the anti-hunting movement.
Fed to the hounds
Video first made public by ITV News shows members of the Kimblewick Hunt on an industrial plot apparently in pursuit of a fox. The footage was captured by security cameras at the site and contains several scenes of hounds just seconds behind the fox. Video filmed on a phone then shows two members of the hunt recovering a corpse from the pack of hounds, before further CCTV footage shows the huntsman feeding the dead fox back to the pack.
Asked if he heard anyone stopping the hounds off during the incident, landowner Roger Kemp said that “nobody called the hounds off”.
On 30th December 2020, ITV News said Thames Valley Police were investigating whether the incident broke the Hunting Act.
However, on 15th March 2021 the HSA said Thames Valley Police wasn’t taking the investigation further. Lee Moon, spokesperson for the anti-hunting organisation, said:
If they had watched the same footage as the rest of us they would surely have seen huntsman Andrew Sallis actively encouraging his hounds onto the fox using well recognised and established horn and voice calls.
The HSA also said police had told the landowners that Sallis had provided a “clear and cogent” account of the day’s events and that evidence was needed of “the suspect having set out intending to hunt a fox that day”.
Insufficient evidence?
The Citro contacted Thames Valley Police and a spokesperson said:
Thames Valley Police conducted a full and thorough investigation into allegations of offences under the Hunting Act 2004, which were reported to the force in December 2020.
Having reviewed all the available evidence including CCTV, mobile phone footage and witness statements, the Crown Prosecution Service concluded that there was insufficient evidence to prosecute.
Based on this advice, the investigation has been filed, pending further information coming to light.
But Peterborough Hunt Sabs posted a series of images to Facebook outlining its disagreements with the statement that there was insufficient evidence. Crucially, it highlighted that Sallis allegedly made “no effort to stop the dogs” despite seeing the fox while holding a hunting horn.
Grafton Hunt Watch also shared an annotated video via the HSA explaining how the Kimblewick Hunt allegedly broke the Hunting Act.
“Fundamentally failed”
Police shelving the case has stoked outrage, with Architects vocalist Sam Carter describing the outcome as “completely and utterly useless”:
Meanwhile, sab blog More Than Just Badgers said the police and Crown Prosecution Service had “fundamentally failed”. It also provided further details on Thames Valley Police’s decision not to pursue the case, suggesting the explanation it accepted from Sallis doesn’t “match up to what we see in the video”. Instead, Beds & Bucks Hunt Sabs (whose member writes More Than Just Badgers) said that the evidence is “nothing less than utterly conclusive”.
Some things never change
More Than Just Badgers echoed the thoughts of some in speculating whether corruption or collusion is responsible, saying “when you’re left with no other options you have to consider it’s just plain old collusion.” But Grafton Hunt Watch took a more prosaic stance. In its video, the group said that the December 2020 incident:
is a clear cut and compelling case for the urgent and radical strengthening of the Hunting Act.
A judge gave suspended sentences to two members of the Kimblewick Hunt in November 2019. The two terriermen, Ian Parkinson and Mark Vincent, were convicted of animal cruelty after forcing a fox out of an artificial earth and into the path of the hunt. The use of an artificial earth is a clear sign of illegal hunting. It defeats belief that the hunt has changed its modus operandi in less than 18 months.
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Headline image via
Grafton Hunt Watch/Hunt Saboteurs Association