On 14 September 2026, former Prime Minister David Cameron joined the Countryside Alliance in another performance of defending so-called trail hunting at an event in Westminster.
Four days later, on 18 September, the Heythrop Hunt – a hunt Cameron has ridden with and was seen attending earlier this year – was out near Lower Swell in Gloucestershire.
Three Counties Hunt Sabs were there when the Heythrop’s hounds killed yet another fox, before members of the hunt carried its mauled body away.
Cameron’s association with the Heythrop goes back decades. Most recently, on 28 February this year, Three Counties Sabs photographed the former Prime Minister attending a joint Heythrop and Tynedale meet at Dean Manor in Oxfordshire.
Cameron’s connections to hunting go beyond the Heythrop. His stepfather-in-law, Viscount Astor, is the chairman of the British Hound Sports Association (BHSA), the governing body for registered hunts in Britain.
Astor recently made the news when his plot to “hoodwink” government ministers over the proposed trail hunting ban made The Times newspaper.
Another senior figure at the BHSA has an even more direct connection to the Heythrop. It is the BHSA’s executive director, Julian Barnfield.
Barnfield is the former huntsman of the Heythrop, and he has history with Cameron.
In 2008, Barnfield was charged with three offences under the Hunting Act over allegations he had hunted foxes with hounds. At the time Cameron was Leader of the Opposition and the Heythrop was his local hunt. Cameron was also Barnfield’s constituency MP.
Following a private meeting between the two, Cameron intervened personally and wrote to the Attorney General on his constituent’s behalf, reportedly questioning whether prosecuting the Heythrop huntsman was “really a productive use of police time?” The case was subsequently discontinued.
Attempts to obtain a copy of the letter under the Freedom of Information Act were unsuccessful. Did the CPS cave to pressure from Cameron?
Four years later, Barnfield was back before the courts for illegal hunting. In December 2012, Barnfield pleaded guilty to four charges of illegally hunting foxes with dogs. Heythrop senior master Richard Sumner also pleaded guilty to four offences, as did Heythrop Hunt Ltd itself.
The case made history, as the Heythrop became the first hunt to be convicted as a corporate body under the Hunting Act.
Barnfield, the quadruple-convicted huntsman, on whose behalf David Cameron had personally intervened during the earlier prosecution, would go on to become the executive director of the organisation responsible for governing hunts in Britain.
On the morning of 18 September 2026, Three Counties Hunt Sabs were with the Heythrop when its hounds entered woodland.
The hunt had surrounded the woodland while hounds were pushed through the covert – classic cub hunting. Riders can be heard slapping their saddles – a tactic used to scare fleeing foxes back towards the hounds.
The fox was killed just inside the fenceline.
Kennel huntsman Josh Tierney was filmed climbing into the woodland and emerging carrying the fox’s mauled body, before running away with it.
When the sabs were able to reach the kill-site, they found blood and internal body parts – including the fox’s liver, left behind.
Before joining the Heythrop, Tierney had been huntsman of the South Dorset Hunt. On 24 July 2024, he was convicted of racially/religiously aggravated intentional harassment, alarm or distress.
The Heythrop’s current master and huntsman Oliver Dale received a police caution after an assault on a female sab in November 2024. Dale was also charged with three Hunting Act offences whilst master and huntsman of the North Cotswold Hunt. Those charges were subsequently discontinued by the Crown Prosecution Service.
The Heythrop’s political connections are not confined to former Conservative leaders. In January this year the current Tory party leader, Kemi Badenoch, appeared at the Cocklebarrow Point-to-Point, a fundraiser for the Heythrop.
While there, Badenoch used her speech to attack the proposed ban on so-called ‘trail hunting’. She was pictured with a grinning Oliver Dale.
By the time Badenoch stood up in defence of trail hunting, the Heythrop hunt already had 12 guilty counts for illegal hunting. Furthermore, another former Heythrop huntsman, Chris Woodward – who had himself been convicted of a Hunting Act offence committed while he was huntsman of the Wynnstay Hunt – was at the centre of an incident that resulted in the Heythrop being issued a Community Resolution by Gloucestershire Rural Crime Team after he lost control of its hounds near Bourton-on-the-Water.
Woodward also arrived at the Heythrop with convictions for interfering with a badger sett and harassment.
Over the years, individuals who have gone on to serve as Heythrop huntsmen have accumulated strings of offences ranging from harassment and badger sett interference to illegal hunting. None of this history was hidden.
The Heythrop and its hunt staff are also under further police investigations for events during the 2025/2026 season which we will report more on when we are able.
A spokesperson for the HSA said:
“Once again the Heythrop Hunt have been caught killing a fox. Its roll call of convicted huntsmen should be enough to make any politician steer well clear. Instead, politicians who aspire to govern this country continue to associate with, promote and defend the smokescreen of ‘trail hunting’.
Cub hunting is particularly indefensible. Young hounds are taken into woodland and taught to hunt foxes, whilst riders surround a covert and try to prevent foxes from escaping. There is no trail to follow, and no plausible excuse when a fox ends up dead.”
Three Counties Hunt Saboteurs said:
“Cub hunting and holding up (i.e stopping young foxes escaping hounds) continues as it did pre ban”.
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