Criminal Huntsman Convicted… Again!

Just before Christmas, huntsman Chris Woodward was convicted of illegally hunting a fox and ordered to pay a fine & costs totalling £1,375.

The judge told the court he was an experienced huntsman who knew his pack and had “deliberately allowed them to pursue the fox.”

Woodward is no stranger to the Courts. In August 2023, he pleaded guilty to interfering with a badger sett contrary to the Protection of Badgers Act 1992.

Hunt Sabs and the Covert Film Unit caught him red handed blocking up a badger sett before a hunting day, and then fleeing on a quad bike when confronted. This is done to stop hunted foxes from seeking shelter underground during a chase.

In July 2023 he pleaded guilty to causing intentional harassment, alarm or distress, an offence under the Public Order Act, after galloping his horse towards a sab while shouting, swearing and making threats.

All three offences took place while he was huntsman of the Wynnstay Hunt in north Wales.

But despite his repeat offending, Woodward hasn’t been banished by those in charge of hunting. In fact he’s been welcomed with open arms to another hunt, the prestigious Heythrop Hunt based in the Cotswolds, a hunt whose members include leading figures in ‘hunting’s governing body,’ the British Hounds Sports Association.

Only last week Woodward led them out for their Boxing Day meet at Chipping Norton, and in September hounds under his control at this hunt were caught on film by Three Counties Hunt Sabs killing a fox at Eyford Park, with Woodward present and the body of the fox being stuffed into a bin bag and whisked away.

A spokesperson for the Hunt Saboteurs Association said:

“This case shows that criminality is rife, and is welcomed, right across the hunting community. And it once again blows the lie of so-called ‘trail hunting’ out of the water.

It also shows that the measly sentences dealt for crimes such as these serve as no deterrent. Loopholes in the Hunting Act must be closed and associated sentencing powers reviewed if the law is to work as intended, and if it is to act as a deterrent to repeat offending.”

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