Ollie Finnegan – ex-huntsman of Leicestershire’s Quorn Hunt – pleaded guilty to Hunting Act offenses today. The evidence consisted of dozens of WhatsApp messages found on Finnegan’s phone after it was seized by police.
Sabs from Herefordshire and Three Counties were due to be witnesses in the case though, in the event, Finnegan’s guilty plea meant a trial did not take place.
While most of the messages have not been released, magistrates said they demonstrated a “pattern of offending over a period of time.”
Those in the public domain are absolutely damning about fox hunting in 2022. In one exchange, Finnegan openly discusses illegal hunting with a hunter from Gloucestershire’s Ledbury Hunt. In other messages, Finnegan discusses hunting with his bosses at the Quorn Hunt.
As with the Hunting Office webinars before them, these WhatsApp messages show the routine nature of the criminality at the heart of the hunting community.
A HSA spokesperson commented,
“The Quorn is the most famous fox hunt in the world, they literally invented the modern form of fox hunting we see today. The fact that even this supposedly prestigious hunt is utterly mired in criminality proves – once again – that fox hunts are just organised crime gangs. While we welcome this conviction, the sad fact is that – almost two decades on from the passing of the Hunting Act – the police still spend most of their time harassing hunt saboteurs, instead of targeting the criminal fox hunters.”
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