Justice for the Pelsham Farm Fox

On the 4th of December 2023 the BSV hunted and killed a fox at Pelsham Farm near Buckhorn Weston. Foot sabs had gone around ahead of them and positioned at Nyland knowing that foxes often ran that way.

Sadly that day floods prevented the fox from escaping the farm and sabs half a mile away could hear the terrible commotion going on as they hunted the fox. As well as hounds in cry, we could hear hollers as the fox was spotted, shouting to head the fox and then finally the dreaded horn call signalling the kill.

Watch the video

Four hunt members were charged – the huntsman George Pierce, the whipper in Conall McGrath, and two part-time terriermen – the notorious Andrew Osborne (known as Ditchman after ambushing a sab and trying to drown her in a ditch) and his thuggish son Freddie.

All images © North Dorset Hunt Saboteurs

The Hunt’s defence for all the interest around the shed, was that they were trying to free a hound trapped in high tensile wire inside – not trying to flush out the fox! Ditchman, who could be seen stomping around in the “three foot high brambles” outside, claimed that he was looking for his wire cutters that had been thrown out the shed window – “I had me leggings on, it was tricky but we did it!” He claimed not to have seen the fox run out next to him and immediately get chased by the hounds. He mulishly stuck to yes and no answers as much as possible. All four gave no comment interviews to the police, although McGrath provided a prepared statement.

We were anticipating some clangers from their defence barrister Stephen Welford, who ludicrously tried to suggest in another trial last year that a witness could have mistaken a pack of hounds in cry for a flock of sheep!

He did not disappoint. Early on, he triumphantly proclaimed that the huntsman wouldn’t have been able to hear the hounds in cry (or any of the crazy shouting and hollering going on either presumably) over the sound of cows mooing in the barn and a tractor driving past! However sabs half a mile away could hear the absolute frenzy going on. All four defendants claimed the same, whether or not they were nearer to the hounds than the cows.

The first sab witness on the stand firmly shut down attempts by Welford to claim we wouldn’t know the difference between fox hunting and trail hunting. He didn’t like the revealing answers to his questions, which included that of course we knew they were never hunting a trail as hounds were always coming out of dense vegetation where no trail could ever have been laid! He even tried to get the bench to shut us up, went very red and later mumbled about needing to take his blood pressure tablets! When it came to the second witness he didn’t dare to ask more than the bare minimum.

In response to the expert witness, he attempted to say that the horn call blown by the huntsman at the kill was not the traditional and distinctive one made to celebrate a kill, but a signal to alert the other hunt staff that an accident had happened. Later on the huntsman contradicted this saying that he blew the horn to call off the dogs and it was effective as a few of them wandered off (being unable to reach the fox’s body amongst the pile on). The court was told that his remarks to the hunt master Tom Riall as they watched the fox being ragged by the hounds was “killed a fox sir”.

Summing up, Welford said that it was “just a horn call” and it shouldn’t count as it happened after the kill. He rambled on about the different hunting exemptions, proclaimed it wasn’t an offence for dogs to chase wildlife (?) and that the case “wasn’t about whether they were trail hunting that day” (!).

In the verdict the magistrates said “We have had no evidence given today that any hound was cut free or by whom.”

The hunt did not produce any witnesses for their defence. No “trail layer”, none of the so called “countrymen” who were meant to have rescued the stuck hound, and no hunt master to defend his staff or expert witness of their own. Musing while waiting for the verdict, sabs sarcastically wondered if the “poor distressed hound” was still stuck in there. Overhearing this, Welford turned round and said “who knows!”

The magistrates said that George was obviously a very experienced huntsman (16 seasons, 5 with BSV) and they had no doubt that he would have been able to control the hounds at the time if he had wanted to. They said he showed no intent to stop the pursuit, but instead slowed his horse to a walk, allowing the hounds to continue the pursuit. They stated “we believe that you deliberately held back to make it appear that you were not intentionally hunting a wild animal”.

They said that Conall McGrath had demonstrated in the morning that he could stop the hounds if needed when sabs were present, yet made no attempt to call off the hounds at Pelsham Farm later, therefore fulfilling the offence. He’d tried to claim that he had seen the fox getting away over flooded fields. However, our recordings picked up hollering which meant that the fox had been sighted again. He said he delayed retrieving the body of the fox from the hounds, not to allow then to rag the body as a reward, but because he was waiting for the right moment for safety reasons! Police attending found the fox’s severed leg and guts left behind at the scene.

In regards to both Andrew and Freddie Osborne, who claimed to be innocent spectators, the magistrates said they did not find either of their stories credible at all. Even the prosecutor was struggling to maintain a straight face at times, especially when Freddie Osborne said he abandoned his search for wirecutters to free the alleged stuck hound and climbed on a trailer as he liked agricultural machinery!

The magistrates were particularly incredulous that he’d said he ran fast through a puddle to avoid getting wet, highlighting it specifically in the verdict. Freddie also said he wasn’t sure if it was a fox that he’d seen the hounds chasing as it could have been a cat. And he didn’t tell anyone that he’s seen an animal being chased as he thought the hounds had stopped. And finally he wasn’t chasing after it to encourage the hounds onto the line, but trying to stop them! This sealed his fate as being “involved” in the hunt regardless.

The magistrates clarified that both Osbornes were guilty in accordance to Section 1 of the Hunting Act 2004 which states that an offence occurs when (a) a person engages or participates in the pursuit of a wild mammal, and (b) one or more dogs are employed in that pursuit (whether or not by him and whether or not under his control or direction).

The whole trial was witnessed by BHSA executive director Julian Barnfield, who sat there and watched the blatant footage and listened to the boldfaced lies they came out with! Following the verdict, the BHSA stated to Channel 4 that it has “referred the matter to its independent disciplinary authority to determine if any further action will be taken”.

Spoiler alert – it won’t. After being forced to suspend the hunt for a token three weeks after the kill was first shown on Channel 4, the BHSA sent representatives to observe the hunt for the final four meets of the season to check whether they were behaving. However, at all 4 “supervised” meets, they carried on blatantly fox hunting as usual, chasing foxes all over main roads and marking to ground in badger setts, yet were still reinstated for next season.

We are gutted that we couldn’t save the Pelsham Farm Fox but very relieved to have got justice for them. The BSV are the second hunt we have had convicted in court recently, with the Portman Hunt convicted for cubbing offences last year. We recognise the enormous amount of work put into this case by Dorset Police to reach the extremely high bar required to meet CPS charging thresholds under the current weak hunting legislation. We have a number of other court dates coming up for public order offences committed by members of the BSV, as well as a hare hunting case involving the Somerset and Dorset Bassetts. We will keep everyone posted.

Thank you to North Dorset Hunt Saboteurs for this web post.
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