Hingham Horror: West Norfolk Foxhounds Guilty Of Illegal Hunting

Right-minded citizens the nation over were shocked and appalled at footage broadcast last year on ITV News of a fox being eviscerated on a family patio by a pack of hounds.

On Friday 19th July 2024, after a landmark three-day trial, the professional huntsman and whipper-in of the West Norfolk Foxhounds were found guilty on two counts each of hunting foxes.

The case was complex in that it involved two very different types of evidence relating to separate incidents, presented by multiple people amounting to 25 charges against four senior hunters under three different acts. Namely, joint masters Robert Gurney and Andrew Kendall, professional huntsman Edward ‘Mikey’ Bell and full-time whipper-in Adam Egginton faced charges under the Dangerous Dogs Act, the Criminal Damage Act and the Hunting Act for incidents in Tittleshall on the 8th and Hingham on the 20th February 2023.

Over the three days, witness statements were heard from Sally Field of Norfolk/Suffolk Hunt Saboteurs who recorded clear video evidence at Tittleshall of a fox being chased and killed. Stephen Welford – the British Hound Sports Association’s ‘Legal Counsel’ – defending, asserted that what Ms Field referred to as the hounds was in fact sheep. Ms Field responded that she was absolutely certain that was not the case.

Welford also claimed that the terriermen on quads Ms Field had said were with the hunt from the outset had approached her at the start and told her to leave, a minor point at this stage but one that went on to cause some difficulty for the defence after they relied on statements made by all four that they had no idea who these men were and had not seen them prior to the moment they appeared in the field where the fox was killed.

Kim Thomas, the grandmother present at her daughter’s beautiful family home in Hingham on the day of the now infamous patio fox kill was next to give evidence. Mrs Thomas, who was then and is now receiving chemotherapy appeared frail and uncomfortable as she sat quietly while the extensive CCTV recordings from three high-definition cameras were played.

These clear images and sounds spoke for themselves delivering an undeniable account of a fox being chased and killed as well as Bell pointing the ‘unnamed man’ to the gate that he then jumped over to retrieve the body of the fox, concealing it under his jacket as he left. Rear cameras show Bell and Egginton appear in the garden to retrieve the hounds and leave. Photos were also shown of the gruesome mess of entrails and fur left on the patio.

Mrs Thomas gave a personal account of how frightening and upsetting the whole experience was. Thankfully, she was spared any suggestion of sheep this time and was allowed to leave the court with no further questions. A statement from her daughter was read out that further commented on the bloody mess left behind. There is no doubt the hounds would have been covered in blood when Bell and Egginton retrieved them.

The prosecution read excerpts from their police interviews. It was noted that Kendall, Bell and Egginton gave interviews shortly after the incident and gave some answers and some ‘no comment’ responses. Gurney however gave a ‘no comment’ interview much later in March. When Mr Gurney was asked why he had done that he answered that Mr Welford had advised him to.

All four defendants were cross examined and gave extremely implausible and at times conflicting accounts. All four stated that the hounds were sheep and that none of them knew any of the people on the quads on either day, claiming that they were nothing to do with the hunt and any actions they took were done independently! This of course is not only implausible, the CCTV shows otherwise.

Particular attention was paid to how Mr Gurney – who was extremely close to the fox chase at Tittleshall – had failed to see the fox or the hounds behind it. He stated that his horse had sustained an injury to its nose whilst in the box on the way there, it was at the exact moment the fox chase happened that he decided to dismount his horse to move the bridal higher up and off the injury. He was asked if he looked up at any point during the commotion and he said he did not. It was obviously highly implausible to suggest that this was the case and that none of the riders with him had seen the fox either.

Charges under the Dangerous Dogs Act were dropped with the judge stating that sabs evidence showed the dogs “perfectly under control”. We fully agreed. It was our assertion that the dogs were doing exactly what they were told to do – chase and kill foxes. The charges of criminal damage were also dropped for reasons that the hounds were so far away from the staff in the act of illegal hunting that they could not possibly know what damage the hounds did.

This left the focus fully on the hunting offences. Gurney and Kendal were dismissed early on, though comments made inferred that they evaded prosecution under the law as it currently stands. No such relief was offered to Bell and Egginton who were told that they were guilty of all counts of illegal hunting on both days. There had simply been far too many contradictions, inconsistencies and ludicrously implausible statements made. Both men received fines of £1700 each, and of course – a criminal record.

The judge commented on the incidents being less than two weeks apart and added that after 20 years of the Hunting Act, following Bell’s own admission, these dogs should have had these instincts bred out of them by now. We inferred from this that he believed, as we do, that the West Norfolk Foxhounds have been illegally hunting foxes under the trail hunting smokescreen since 2004.

Mr Jackson stood up to add that he had spoken with the police officers present today who had spoken at length to Mr Gurney, whom in turn had confirmed that they had changed their ways recently so that this would not happen again. Gurney nodded profusely. We understood this to be an admission that the West Norfolk Foxhounds are simply an illegal foxhunting pack.

In the meantime, please follow Norfolk/Suffolk Hunt Saboteurs for more updates and please consider donating to them or buying some of their merch so they can be out there bringing these hunters to justice and, of course, getting between the hounds and the animals.