Hunting Office ‘Smokescreen’ Webinars: Three Years On

It is three years since the Hunt Saboteurs Association published leaked training webinars from the Hunting Office. These webinars – presented to an audience of over 100 hunt masters – conclusively proved what hunt sabs had been saying for the previous fifteen years: trail hunting is a lie.

In fact, the webinar presenters gifted us a more memorable phrase to describe what they were up to, repeatedly describing trail hunting as a ‘smokescreen’.

Since the webinars hit the national news, hunting has been in freefall. Hunts have been banned from millions of acres of land, packs have been folding across the country, and recent Scottish legislation banned not just fox hunting, but the smokescreen of trail hunting as well.

Another victim was the Hunting Office itself which was supposedly disbanded and replaced by the British Hound Sports Association (BHSA). But three years on, most of the webinar presenters maintain key positions in hunting’s national infrastructure and the BHSA – so, where they are now?

Mark Hankison, former Masters of Foxhounds Association (MFHA) Director was the only person convicted in relation to the webinars. While Hankinson won an appeal against his conviction, this did absolutely nothing to recuperate the reputation of trail hunting. Hankinson has been spotted out hunting with the Wilton and South Dorset Hunts in recent months.

Hereditary peer Lord Benjamin Mancroft chaired the webinars, reminding his audience that “anything that comes out of these meetings is to be kept amongst ourselves, it’s not for general coverage”. Police investigating the case were said to be “furious” that Mancroft was not charged along with Hankinson. This has not stopped him riding with the Beaufort Hunt several times a week and – unbelievably – he has been asked to lead the BHSA’s Westminster ‘advisory board’.

Richard Tyacke addressed the beagle pack masters in the audience. He correctly warned these hunts, which proceed on foot, that they are particularly vulnerable to prosecution because they operate on a much smaller scale than fox hunts. He advised that:

“…most beagle packs go home if sabs or monitors are present. This is the safe and sensible course of action. While that can seem defeatist and it feel like they’re winning it is far better than a court case and then they really are winning and just remember you’re on foot and you’re very, very susceptible.”

Tyacke was until recently BHSA ‘Hunting Director’, though he mysteriously resigned this position recently and is now to be found traipsing around after hunt sabs on the Wynnstay Hunt.

Richard Gurney presented a ‘case study’ – an example of best practice – on how trails should be laid when hunt sabs turn up. In his presentation, Gurney was clear that this is NOT:

“…about turning the Old Surrey, Burstow & West Kent into a trail laying pack, it was about giving us the support and protection that we needed…The Master of the day decided, that we should revert to Plan B, Plan B being obviously using our team to lay trails for the rest of the day because it became clear that the antis had arrived”.

These damning comments make it clear that trail-laying is a ‘Plan B’ held in reserve for when sabs turn up. Yet Gurney is still master and huntsman of the Crawley & Horsham – the country’s most convicted hunt – and the MFHA area representative for all fox hunts in the Southeast.

Ex-police officer Paul Jelley discussed the benefits of holding ‘trail laying exhibitions’ to an invited audience of local police and dignitaries. He advised filming these events, though was careful warn his audience to use different phones when recording exhibition trail laying and actual hunting:

“So, something for you hunt staff and terriermen, trail layers and everybody to consider, if you’re recording evidence for the Hunting Act, trail laying, whatever, don’t use the same phones or anything you’ve been using for social media and bragging about what you’ve been doing out hunting.”

Jelley’s advice has been taken up with enthusiasm by the BHSA, who have organised several fake ‘trail-laying exhibition days’ in a desperate effort to fool gullible police and politicians. Jelley also maintains a key role in the BHSA, where he is responsible for registering the territories of hare hunts – the same role he had in the Hunting Office. He was last spotted at the 2021 Northumberland Beagling Festival, a secretive gathering of hare hunters which he attended with his Bristol-based pack, the Chilmark & Clifton Foot Beagles.

Phil Davies, ex-police Gold Commander and Countryside Alliance Police Liaison Officer, advised his audience on use of the video camera, saying it should be used to:

“…create that smokescreen, or that element of doubt that we haven’t deliberately hunted a fox, so if nothing else you need to record that, and it will help us to write the defence to your huntsman.”

Although Davies was not charged, his comments led to the Countryside Alliance being booted out of various influential rural bodies. He has since left the organisation and is now believed to be spending more time with his rugby ball.

An HSA spokesperson commented,

“Three years on from the publication of the Hunting Office webinars, everybody knows that trail hunting is just a smokescreen for hunting foxes and hares. What is less well known is that the very people who damaged hunting so badly, are those that continue to lead the pro-hunt lobby. It says a lot about the state of hunting that the best they can manage is the same discredited bunch who were behind the Hunting Office webinars.”

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