Advice needed

[baz 464]

deney it till the end..no cmment....its harder for them to convict you than you think....

[ade33uk 86]

This was posted on m oochers on the 10th ofd january by craftyfox who seems to know what he is talking about hope he doesnt mind me reproducing it here . everyone should read this .

.

"I went to Court in Boston Lincs today to represent some lads from up north who had been caught hare coursing in East Anglia without permission.

 

One or two of them sensibly said nothing, but most of them (all but two I think) made what we lawyers call "full and frank admissions" to the police.

 

My purpose in posting is to say PLEASE don't do this.

 

There is nothing to be gained by it and EVERYTHING to be lost.

 

Confession may be good for the soul but it's no bloody use at all for a criminal defence lawyer who has to come along later and try to clean up the mess.

 

If you have to plead guilty at Court, fine (though it's against my religion, personally).

 

The end result was a £250 fine plus £60 costs. No driving bans, luckily, and no cars or dogs forfeited, but then only one of the lads had a similar previous conviction. They were told to expect all those penalties if they came back to that Court again!

 

The Chairman said it would have been £300 if the guilty plea had been entered later, but that is not the issue.

 

Please understand that the only "brownie points" you get are for pleading guilty at an early stage of the COURT PROCEEDINGS: NOT for baring your soul to the police.

 

If you are or believe yourself to be guilty of poaching or a breach of the Hunting Act give a "no comment" interview to the police (and remember it's an interview even if he is asking you questions at the side of the road).

 

Get a Duty Solicitor to any police station interview; they are FREE and they are GOOD.

 

There MAY then be a chance of pleading not guilty later by putting the police to proof that YOU were he person they saw and that it was YOUR dog that was chasing the relevant beast.

 

The police MAY not be able to prove that the dog was chasing a hare as opposed to a rabbit.

 

They may not be able to prove that you ever left the car.

 

Incidentally, they charged the lads today under the Hunting Act, (as pposed to poaching) and since they had no permission to be on the land a guilty plea was inevitable.

 

BUT, and it's a BIG BUT, it may have been possible for one or two of them to have been acquitted even on those facts if the police could not prove that those individuals had actively participated in the hunt.

 

As it turned out, they were caught by what they said in interview, so DON'T CONFESS; say feck all. Only if you have an explanation should you participate in an interview; examples are

 

"My dog got off the lead and I was chasing him to catch him"

"We were after rabbits on permission but my dog accidentally put up a hare and ran after it"

"I wanted nothing to do with it, guv'nor. I stayed in the car while those nasty people went off hare coursing"

 

Also, in today's case, one of the lads took a video, which of course the police looked at before interviewing.

 

For goodness' sake, whose side was he on????

 

Anyone who uses a video or a mobile phone to take photos of an illegal activity should not be surprised to be convicted. and - which is worse - getting all your mates convicted too!

 

Remember: No confessions; no videos; get a free solicitor.

 

If we keep being convicted under the Hunting Act the Government will say it's working, and we'll NEVER get rid of it!"

 

CRAFTYFOX

[Guest SJM]

Thats good sound advice there, a good post

[J Darcy 5,871]

Good advice.....though i will tell you now, the police will use this thread printed out against you....

but its too late to delete it now.....so i'l leave it up....

[ferret15 0]

Legal poaching ferret15, isn't that an oxymoron?

 

 

what i mean by legal is number of dogs IE 2 or less

[Simoman 110]

Forgive my ignorance, hows does the number of dogs affect things?

[ferret15 0]

Forgive my ignorance, hows does the number of dogs affect things?

 

 

The main exemptions under the Act are ratting and rabbiting, stalking and flushing out with no more than two dogs, and the use of a dog below ground to protect birds kept for shooting. LINK.

 

 

in his first post he says

I thought rabbit's where vermin and exemt from the hunting ban or will poaching change this ruling

[Simoman 110]

Ah, yes!! Understand what you mean.

[sniffer 167]

Went out last night for a shine with 2 mates had a good few run's killed 2 big bunny's and 7 normal size bunny's we carefully pugged these in a hedge for our return home and left 2 at a gate where we enterd the feild's, anyhow on our return we see the boys in blue waiting at our lamping moter and no way to escape So off we go in the back of a landrover to the nearest nick sat there till 5 in the morning we where took at 10.20 interveiwed we all gave name adress and detail's then NO COMMENT they showed us all picture's of the 2 bunny's they had found at the frontgate still NO COMMENT we have all been bailed till the end of november IN CONNECTION WITH AN OFFENCE OF HUNTING WILD ANIMAL'S WITH DOG'S and confiscated all our lamp's and slip leads....What do you fellows reckon the outcome of this will be ? I thought rabbit's where vermin and exemt from the hunting ban or will poaching change this ruling as the police seem to think ? i reckon a little fine and loss of my lamp what do you lads reckon looking forward to some good advice

you bad boy

give clive a bell on 07931 273001 he's one of the hunting lawyers.

hell of a nice man and im sure he'll be able to help you

 

 

already rang him he isent back untill friday

[jultaylor1972 2]

Best of luck in court I wouldnt dare poach as it could be the end of my career as a nurse Im really fussy about where I go and always have my written permission with me at all times and always ensure people know I'll be there when I say I will. Having said that, mistakes are easily made especially at night when your eyes play tricks on you, perhaps thats how you ended up in the wrong field chasing those big bunnies. I hope it all works out for you in the end.

[Guest SHOT]

chances are you,ll be re-interveiwed when you return to answer bail...

[COMPO 54]

tresspass is a civil offence , so the please would not get invovled for that .

 

 

normal trespass yes, but there is trespass in pursuit of game which is a criminal offence

[Guest Frank]

Same here. Tresspass, is not an offence. If, for instance, i walked across jo blogs farm land, all he can do, if its not a public right of way, is feck me off it, but, he can not bring it to court.

On the other hand, if i got caught shooting on jo blogs land, they would have me up for armed tresspass.!!

If i was after rabbits and foxes, with only ferrets or dogs, he can only tell me to go away and not come back, but, in UK, you can get prosecuted for this. Down side to this, some farmers over here, shoot the dogs and seem to get away with it.

Now, if i was after deer, hare any other protected game ect on jo blogs land, without permission and a licence, to hunt protected game and the wildlife ranger, caught me, i would also get prosecuted. Also, if the famer knows his stuff and cought me without permission, killing protected game and no permission, he could report me to the ranger and i would get a visit in court.