East Essex Hunt terrier man Paul O’Shea, 49, of Mount Bures, Essex, admitted charges of hunting a wild mammal with a dog and causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal when he appeared at Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday, 22/06/2022. The prosecution withdrew a charge of hunting a wild mammal with a dog against a 16-year-old girl.
Magistrates’ ordered a pre-sentence report and O’Shea was warned that the section 4 offence was imprisonable and all sentencing options remained open. He was granted unconditional bail until his sentencing at the same court on Monday 01/08/2022 2022.
The offences relate to an incident that took place on the early evening of Saturday 04/12/2021 at Great Monks Wood, near Coggleshall. O’SHEA and the 16 year old female. There is an artificial earth at the location and members of the North London Hunt Sabs had installed a covert video camera overlooking the artificial earth. The video footage showed that on arriving at the location a terrier was released underground by the female and a short while later a fox emerged which became entangled in a net covering the hole entrance. The terrier had hold of the fox. O’Shea could then be seen lifting the fox by its tail and untangling the net from around its body. He passed the terrier back to the female, who then walked out of camera shot. O’Shea picked up a garden fork and walked over to a tree truck while still holding the fox by its tail. He held the fox up against the tree trunk and then stabbed the fox with the garden fork and then places the fox on the ground and stabbed it relatedly while the struggling fox attempts to bite the fork. O’Shea is seen walking off camera while still holding the struggling fox by its tail.
After retrieving the camera North London Hunt Saboteurs passed the footage to Rupert Evelyn of ITV News, who subsequently reported on it.
The video footage of the incident has been posted on Youtube by North London Hunt Saboteurs
Paul O’Shea has been the terrier man for the East Essex Hunt for thirty years and has been joined by his son Charlie. His father John O’Shea was the master of the East Essex hunt for 36 years. Paul O’Shea’s wife is Wendy O’Shea is currently one of the joint masters one the hunt.