8th August 2025
Two members of a hunt will appear in court next month on animal cruelty charges.
A terrierman with the Cottesmore Hunt in Rutland, Maxwell Logan, 42, of St Neots Road, Elsworth pleaded not guilty to interfering with a badger sett at Leicester Magistrates’ Court on June 23.
Prosecutors also accuse fellow hunt member, 36-year-old Sam Jones, of Cottesmore Road in Ashwell, with aiding and abetting the interference of the same badger sett – with both counts relate to an incident in Owston Wood, Leicestershire, on January 9 this year.
The pair will face a two-day trial at Loughborough Magistrates’ Court on September 17 and 18.
Jones also pleaded not guilty to hunting a wild mammal with dogs after police arrested him following another incident on January 18 in Launde, Leicestershire.
That trial is set for September 9.
The Cottesmore Hunt, which has been in existence for around 350 years, says that it tracks wildlife “within the law” after the 2004 Hunting Act banned the hunting of most wild animals.
The group had two terriers and a quadbike seized by the Leicestershire Rural Crime Team on a hunt in February 2025, while Springwatch presenters Chris Packham and Megan McCubbin hosted a two-hour livestream following them on a trail hunt last December, accusing them of wanting to “tear a fox to pieces for fun”.
The Cottesmore Hunt responded by saying: “For anyone who watched the livestream, you will have seen that we were involved indeed in trail hunting and that Mr Packham and his team did not see any wrongdoing.
“Two Masters were shown leaving the meet early to continue to lay trails during the day in addition to those laid earlier in the day.”
On Saturday, August 9, the Cottesmore Hunt will hold a 10-mile ‘fun ride’ at the Grimsthorpe Castle estate to raise funds for both the Lincs and Notts Air Ambulance and the Hunt itself.
However, activists from the Locals Against the Cottesmore Hunt group said they will hold a “peaceful demonstration” at the venue.
https://www.lincsonline.co.uk/rutland/news/animal-cruelty-trials-for-two-hunt-members-9428953/
SCUM LIKE THIS SHOULD BE LOCKED UP THEY ARE VILE CRUEL EVIL PARASITES AND SHOULD GO TO PRISON FOR WHAT THEY HAVE DONE THEY ARE A DISGRACE TO THE HUMAN RACE.