Editing Hunting Act 2004 (section)

=== Crawley and Horsham Hunt: 2008–2013 ===

In 2008, the [[Crawley and Horsham Hunt]] launched a legal action in the High Court for trespass, nuisance, and harassment against Simon and Jane Wild of West Sussex Wildlife Protection and West Sussex Badger Protection Group. The hunt used Timothy Lawson-Cruttenden, an expert in the use of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 in such cases. This was viewed as a test case and received support from the Countryside Alliance, the Master of Foxhounds Association and 80 landowners and if successful was planned to lead to a request for an injunction against everyone associated with these groups from interfering with the hunt. The defendants claimed to have evidence of illegal hunting taking place and were asking the court to accept this as a defence to the Harassment Act action. The original judge, Justice Cranston, stepped down in July 2008 due to earlier comments made in support of the ban made while an MP. During the second trial it was reported that the judge dismissed nuisance and trespass, because they had "fundamental defects", leaving only harassment. It was also reported that the protestors, using an undercover infiltrator, had been able to get hold of conclusive evidence that the claimants were engaged in illegal fox hunting. The principal plaintiff, Simon Greenwood, was filmed using his hounds to chase a fox to ground and then call in terrier-men to dig it out and throw it to the hounds. The plaintiffs dropped the case in July 2009, and agreed to pay costs estimated at over £120,000.<ref name=drops_court_case>{{cite news|url=http://www.theargus.co.uk/news/4494900.Sussex_hunt_drops_court_case_against_activists/|title=Sussex hunt drops court case against activists |newspaper=The Argus |date=16 July 2009 |first=Samuel |last=Underwood |access-date=7 April 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/competitionnews/392/286742.html |title=Crawley & Horsham hunt drops fight against saboteurs |first=Charlotte |last=White |date=25 July 2009 |magazine=Horse & Hound |access-date=23 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121004145808/http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/competitionnews/392/286742.html |archive-date=4 October 2012}}</ref>

Officials of the Crawley and Horsham Hunt were found guilty in May 2012 of Hunting Act offences: professional huntsman Andrew Phillis, joint master Neill Millard and the hunt secretary Rachel Holdsworth were convicted on a total of five charges of illegally hunting. Millard and Holdsworth were fined £1000 each and both ordered to pay £2500 costs. Phillis was later sentenced to a £500 fine and £2500 costs.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2012/may/14/hunt-members-guilty-fox-hounds?newsfeed=true|title=Hunt members found guilty of illegally pursuing fox with hounds | location=London | work=The Guardian|first=Owen|last=Bowcott|date=14 May 2012}}</ref>

In September 2013, professional huntsman Nicholas Bycroft pleaded guilty to an offence under Section 1 of the Hunting Act: he admitted illegally hunting a fox during a meet at Angmering Park, near Arundel, West Sussex, on 19 February 2013. He was given a 12-month conditional discharge, £150 costs and £15 [[victim surcharge]].