At a hearing on 15th November, 2019 at Nottingham Magistrates Court, former huntsman of the Meynell and South Staffordshire Hunt Sam Staniland and former joint master William Tatler pleaded guilty to hunting a wild mammal with dogs – Hunting Act 2004
They were sentenced as follows:
Sam Staniland: To pay £350 fine and £185 court costs.
William Tatler: To pay £350 fine and £185 court costs
The case against the joint master Peter Southwell, former whipper-in John Oliver Finnegan, terrier man Andrew Bull and terrier man Sammuel Stanley was discontinued by the Crown Prosecution Service.
The men are charged with hunting a wild mammal with dogs at Spath Covert, in Sutton-on-the-Hill, in Derbyshire, on October 2, 2018.
The case follows an investigation by Derbyshire Police based on evidence captured by the animal welfare charity League Against Cruel Sports.
In August 2012 two members of the Meynell and South Staffordshire Hunt were found guilty of hunting a wild mammal with dogs at Spath Covert, Sutton-on-the-Hill, the same location. Former hunt master the Honourable John Edward Greenall and Glen Morris were both found guilty at South Derbyshire Magistrates’ Court for illegally hunting fox cubs in October 2011. This was the first conviction under the Hunting Act for cub hunting.