Police crack down on poachers

Police and community watch groups are making a breakthrough in the fight against poachers on East Riding farmland.

A high-profile campaign to crackdown on illegal hunting of wild animals with dogs has led to the successful prosecution of gangs of poachers.

Officers are now stepping up the campaign in the run-up to the harvesting season, when fields are cleared of crops, which is a peak time for the cruel sport.

It comes after a gang of poachers were each fined £350 with £150 costs for hunting hares with dogs when they appeared at Bridlington Magistrates' Court.

The police helicopter was used to film the four men, from the Hartlepool area, releasing their dogs and chasing the hares on farmland at Wetwang, near Driffield.

Members of Driffield Neighbourhood Policing Team and Driffield and Rural Farmwatch joined forces to track and arrest the gang of poachers.

Police say it is the third successful prosecution in the past year for hunting illegally with specially bred lurcher dogs in that area of East Yorkshire.

Driffield-based Sergeant David Jenkins said: "We are getting the breakthrough that we wanted but there is still a lot to be done in the fight against poaching.

"But the last court success was a good result for Farmwatch, the rural community and the police.

"It sends a message that the fantastic relationship that the police have developed with rural groups is working and people who hunt wild mammals with dogs in the East Riding will not be tolerated.

"We are prepared to use all the tools available to us, like the helicopter, in our efforts to prevent, detect and deter poaching and other rural crime."

Gordon Calvert, Driffield Farmwatch co-ordinator, said: "The latest case is a brilliant example of what we can achieve when we work in partnership."

Anyone with information about poachers on farmland should call police on 0845 6060222.