Bedford Borough Councillor Tom Wootton who manages his family’s farm at Ravensden welcomed MP Richard Fuller’s recent action on hare coursing.
Cllr Wootton said: “As a farmer, hare coursing along with fly tipping costs us a lot of money through damage to fencing and the removal of rubbish.”
Mr Fuller, the MP for north east Bedfordshire put forward a private members bill in the House of Commons on Friday, January 21, 2022.
The second reading of his bill sets out to strengthen police powers in prosecuting the crime of hare coursing including a new offense of ‘going equipped’ for coursing. This reflects the difficulties that police often have in being at the right place and time to actually witness the crime taking place, especially given the rural nature of the activity.
It also proposed new and stricter penalties for those convicted of hare coursing with unlimited fines replacing the current maximum of £1,000 and also introduced for the first time, the scope for magistrates to impose custodial sentences of up to six months’ imprisonment.
The other significant measures are to provide greater powers for the seizure of dogs used for hare coursing including crucially, the ability of police forces to recover the costs of kennelling seized dogs from the perpetrators of the criminality.
Speaking after the debate, the MP said: “Responding for the government, the Defra Minister Rebecca Pow reassured me that all of these measures were now included in the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill and that she fully expected these new laws to be in place by the summer before the next hare coursing season.”
