Dorset Police Rural Crime Team has issued a Blackmore and Sparkford Vale supporter with a Criminal Behaviour Order (CBO). Shane Cooper pleaded guilty to assault and theft following an incident on 26 September 2023. He attacked hunt saboteurs and stole their equipment.
The CBO replaced the more commonly-known ASBO back in 2014. You can read more about CBOs and related orders on our Anti-social Behaviour And The Law page here. According to the Sentencing Council:
“A CBO is an order designed to tackle the most serious and persistent anti-social individuals where their behaviour has brought them before a criminal court.”
‘Beaten with a thick branch’
Weymouth Animal Rights wrote about the assault the day after it happened. The group said:
“the ‘rent a thugs’ appeared, landing in by quad they attacked our Sabs. They made a particular beeline for our female Sab and attacked her from behind. They stole her camera and radio and knocked her to the ground several times. Our other Sab was also viciously attacked and beaten with a thick branch, they too had their body cam stolen along with a radio and Gizmo. It was an horrific ordeal! Luckily one Sab was able to retain an SD card and the footage is now in the hands of the police.”
Not to attend any location where there is a hunt taking place, whether that be pre planned, informal or organised.
The order is in place until further order, or until 8 March 2025.
Violent BSV
This incident was one of a line of assaults in late 2023, carried out by BSV thugs. In October 2023 we reported that two sabs were targeted. At the time North Dorset Sabs wrote:
“two female sabs were attacked by three masked men. Their cameras were stolen and they were pushed and shoved. Several 999 calls were made but Dorset Police Rural Crime Team made no effort to attend.”
“It seems that after six weeks of being constantly sabbed, the masters of the BSV are feeling the pressure and have ordered violence, robbery and criminal damage as an acceptable form of damage limitation.”
In November 2023, Weymouth Animal Rights reported that sabs were attacked as the BSV tried to prevent the group from moving in to prevent a kill. They said:
“Sabs were assaulted by two terriermen and a rider who was so desperate to prevent sabs from moving in, that he jumped off his horse and attacked one sab.”
Also in 2023, the BSV was suspended – albeit briefly – by hunt’s governing body, the British Hound Sports Association, after drone footage of the hunt murdering a fox appeared on Channel 4 News. The video, which was captured on 4 December 2023, showed the hunt master and other staff watch on, doing nothing to call the hounds off. They made sure that they retrieved the fox’s mauled body afterwards. Following the Channel 4 expose, four men were charged under Section 1 of the Hunting Act 2004, accused of hunting a wild mammal with dogs.
In February 2024, on the BSV’s closing meet of the season, hunt saboteurs’ lives were endangered by thugs supporting the hunt. Weymouth Animal Rights explained what happened:
“A massive crowd gathered as supporters, many of which wreaked of alcohol, attempted to steal equipment, made threats of an array of creepiness, and violently attacked sabs. As sabs were walking away, one was punched in the back of the head and knocked to the ground. This extremely dangerous and cowardly move resulted in a head injury that sent this sab to the hospital.”
Then in April 2024 the BSV’s Charlie Mayo, son of hunt master Anthony Mayo, was found guilty of assaulting a hunt saboteur and causing actual bodily harm. The saboteur was so badly injured that he was hospitalised. The assault, which North Dorset Hunt Saboteurs described as “unprovoked” and “cowardly”, took place back in December 2021. A jury at Bournemouth Crown Court unanimously found Mayo guilty.
The UK’s best boutique hotel supports the BSV
It is clearly evident that the BSV is one of the most violent hunts in the country, terrorising hunt saboteurs, monitors and foxes alike. Surprisingly, one popular hotel, The Newt in Somerset – which was awarded the World’s Best Boutique Hotel award at The World’s 50 Best Hotels 2023 – still hosts the hunt on the hotel’s grounds, as well as on some other farms it owns.
It is clear that if The Newt continues to allow the BSV to use its land, the hotel will suffer from reputational damage, and, likely, declining membership numbers. On top of this, the business risks prosecution under Section 3 of the Hunting Act as a complicit landowner.
