As May commences, there’s more bad news for hunting. Monitors and sabs are reporting suspicions that another hunt amalgamation may well be on the way. Meanwhile two men connected to the notorious Cottesmore Hunt have been convicted of violence against hunt saboteurs. One of them received a ban from attending hunt meets.
The police and Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) are displaying their usual bias against wildlife defenders. The CPS is refusing to prosecute hunt supporter Tom Greig who assaulted hunt monitor Chantelle Leach. You can read an update about her case below.
Two of the Cottesmore Hunt’s thugs convicted of violence against sabs
It seems like every month a handful of hunters are convicted of abusing either foxes or wildlife defenders. As April drew to a close, it was the turn of two members of the Cottesmore Hunt.
Hired thugs
The Cottesmore made national headlines at the start of last year when they started hiring thugs to intimidate hunt opponents. In January 2024, Northants Hunt Sabs (NHS) released footage of wildlife defenders sabbing Cottesmore huntsman Sam Jones being followed and attacked by a group of masked men wearing identical balaclavas and puffy jackets.
The campaign of violence by the Cottesmore has gone on now for several years. The assaults that the two men pleaded guilty to were part of that campaign. They took place in Autumn last year.
Andrew Kean pleaded guilty to two charges of assault by beating, and one charge of common assault at Leicester Crown Court on 31st April, while Barrington Nurse-Phillips admitted two charges of common assault.
The attacks occurred in October 2024 at the opening meet of the Cottesmore Hunt in Knossington, Leicestershire. Kean and Nurse-Philips launched the assault on sabs who tried to help a fox who was fleeing from the Cottesmore hounds.
Banned from Cottesmore meets
NHS published the following statement:
“The Cottesmore fox hunt have for a long time used paid thugs to attack and threaten sabs. Andrew Kean has also prided himself on being the one that everyone should fear. However, when push came to shove, he exhibited the same cowardly and self-serving attitude common to all those in the hunting world. When faced with the reality of justice they shrink like the fading ghosts of the bloody past they truly are.”
Kean tried to make a plea deal in order to lessen his sentence, but this was refused by the victim of the attack. As the Hunt Saboteurs Association reported:
“The defendants had maintained ‘not guilty’ pleas up until the morning of the trial, with Kean attempting to change his plea in an effort to secure lesser consequences. However, the victim of this organised hunt violence firmly rejected the deal and held their nerve and dignity in court, leaving Kean to try and save his own neck and tattered reputation.”
The court handed Kean a two-year restraining order and a ban from going to Cottesmore Hunt meets. He is also restricted from approaching the sabs he had assaulted. Nurse-Philips received a criminal conviction for his role in the attacks.
A history of violence
Th
his isn’t the first time that the Cottesmore has been involved in violence against sabs, as Protect the Wild has previously reported:
- On November 13 2024, hired Cottesmore thug David Fildes plead guilty to several violent offences against sabs.
- On 2 March, two people connected to the Cottesmore Hunt were arrested as part of Leicestershire Police’s Operation Enlighten. On top of the violent offences, one man was arrested for driving under the influence of drugs.
- On 24 February 2024, sabs received more intimidation. One woman was threatened with physical violence and others received threats to their homes.
- On 13 January, ten or more masked thugs armed with a hammer attacked the NHS’ vehicle, and physically dragged sabs through the mud.
- On 6 January 2024, NHS released footage of wildlife defenders being attacked by masked men.
- In August 2023, huntsman Sam Jones appeared in court and pleaded not guilty to common assault after his horse leapt a fence while a sab was standing on the other side. As a result, the horse hit the saboteur. Jones then rode off and continued hunting. That incident happened in February 2023, and Jones was acquitted by a judge in November 2023, in a display of the courts’ pro-hunt bias.
- In October 2022, Angela Jarrom committed a hit-and-run on a hunt saboteur during a Cottesmore Hunt meet on her land. Jarrom pleaded guilty to a diminished charge of actual bodily harm, but escaped going to prison.
- In November 2021, Cottesmore Hunt Pony Club manager Sarah Moulds was filmed kicking and punching her horse. The video went viral, and the public was outraged. She was found not guilty in court in August 2023.
- In September 2021, hunt saboteur Mel Broughton suffered broken ribs when a Cottesmore Hunt steward assaulted him. At the time, a hunt sab told the London Economic that Broughton was attacked and “pulled clean off” a gate breaking two ribs. Broughton was targeted yet again in December by members of the Cottesmore after he was trying to check on an injured horse. The horse later died.
The convictions of Kean and Nurse-Philips underline again the seriousness of the violence faced by sabs when they are out protecting the wild. We need a real ban on trail hunting to end the violence against nature and its defenders once and for all.
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Northants Hunt Sabs have determinedly exposed the Cottesmore’s attacks on wildlife, despite the relentless, violent campaign waged against them. You can donate to them here.
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Check out our Protectors of the Wild page on ‘Assaults and the Law’.
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If you’ve been affected by violence from the hunt when out sabbing it can be useful to get mental health support. Protect the Mind is an initiative funded by Protect the Wild for animal activists. Click here to find out more.
Wildlife defenders suspect another hunt merger is on the cards
In our Spring update we reported some good news that several hunts are merging or shutting down at the end of the 2024/5 hunting season. Now sab and monitor groups are reporting suspicions that two more hunts will soon be announcing a merger.
Herts Wildlife Monitors (HWM) told Protect the Wild that they suspect that the Puckeridge and Essex Union Hunt will soon be merging with the East Essex. The Puckeridge and Essex Union were forced to merge back in 2023. If it goes ahead, a merger with East Essex will be further evidence of a long term decline of hunting, hastened by relentless efforts by local sab and monitor groups.
Pretty much straight after the Puckeridge merged with the Essex Union in 2023 they were served with a Community Protection Notice (CPN) by Herts Police. The notice hasn’t been enforced yet as the Hunt is appealing. Having to give energy to legal battles, however, must be taking the Hunt’s attention away from killing foxes. HWM are hoping the CPN will remain in place and affect the newly amalgamated hunt if the merger goes ahead.
East Herts Sabs share HWM’s suspicions that a merger could be on the horizon. They posted on Facebook back in January:
“What are the Puck & Essex up to now? For months it’s been really difficult finding out where they’re hunting, checking on kennels and multiple locations and now all of a sudden it appears their next meet is being shouted from the rooftops! Are they trying to recruit?
Maybe they’re struggling financially? There’s been a number of meets this season where they’ve literally had half a dozen riders and that included the huntsman and there’s been a distinct lack of hunt support so it’s got to be taking it’s toll!We even thought that [hunt master Neil] Pearson might be hoping the Puck & Essex could amalgamate with yet another hunt, he’s been quite close with the East Essex of late so maybe that’s next on the cards.”
One thing’s for sure, there will be fewer hunts out next season. The number of hunt groups is dwindling as loss of hunting land, the efforts from sabs and monitors, and financial and legal pressures is forcing more and more hunts to amalgamate or close down entirely. Let’s hope that what we are hearing is the last desperate gasp of a dying blood sport.
Renewed call from hunt monitor to demand Essex police take action
On 26 February Essex & Suffolk Hunt (ESH) supporter Tom Greig was filmed smashing hunt monitor Chantelle Leach’s phone and violently shoving her during the ESH’s meet in Little Bentley on 26 February. Chantelle told Protect the Wild that Greig’s assault intensified after the film cuts off.
We interviewed Chantelle from Suffolk Action for Wildlife (SAF) in March, and called on our supporters to contact Essex Police demanding that they take action against Greig.
You can watch Protect the Wild’s video of Chantelle talking about the assault here.
After we published the interview and e-petition, Essex Police received over 1200 emails. Shortly afterwards the police finally sent the matter to the CPS. However, now the pressure is off, the cops are backtracking and saying that Greig’s case will be dealt with by requiring him to pay for a new phone for Chantelle and issuing him with a caution.
Chantelle told us that the police even rewrote the statement she had submitted to them and wanted to send their own version to the CPS. She explained that she refused to sign the police’s version, instead insisting on signing a copy of her original statement.
Back in March, Chantelle explained why she didn’t think that this was a sufficient penalty for Greig. She told us at the time:
“It’s just going to give police a bigger task in the future, because this guy is just going to keep reoffending. So I just don’t want them to silence me or any other women, because, you know, there’s an there’s a national emergency with violence against women at the moment, and then this is how women are treated when they’re attacked, when they’re assaulted.”
Chantelle is calling again on wildlife defenders to demand that the police take action against Greig. Please take a few minutes to support Chantelle and fill out the petition here.
- Suffolk Action for Wildlife can only exist through donations. Consider donating to the monitors here. Any amount will be gratefully appreciated.
