On 18th June 2026, Charlie Ford, huntsman of the Devon & Somerset Bassets, UK, was found guilty of a Hunting Act offence at Weymouth Magistrates’ Court, in what the Hunts Saboteurs Association (HSA) believes to be the first ever conviction of a basset pack under the law. Ford was fined £648, ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £259, and made to cover £650 in court costs.
In England, the tradition of hunting with dogs not only involved chasing foxes or deers with hounds, but also chasing hares with bassets, beagles, or harriers.
The case centred on an incident on 13th October 2024 at Mullins Farm in Bagber, North Dorset, England, where North Dorset Hunt Sabs said they received a tip-off that a hunt was under way and attended with Wildlife Crime Action monitors. They filmed the basset pack pursuing a hare, and that footage was passed to police.
According to the HSA, Ford tried to argue in an interview that he had been hunting hedgerows for rabbits, which can be legal under the Hunting Act 2004. But prosecution expert witness Stewart Scoll said rabbits would be “highly unlikely” to be in the middle of an open field during daylight, while hares use a “form” in open ground and depend on camouflage and speed to escape.
The HSA also said that the defence also suggested the animals might have been rabbits affected by myxomatosis, but the expert said diseased rabbits would be even closer to their burrows because of the illness’s effect on their eyesight. Court footage reportedly showed hounds being cast in the middle of open fields, then later finding a hare and going into full cry as Ford made three short horn blows, which the expert said were standard hunting calls used to encourage hounds on.
An HSA spokesperson said, “Congratulations to North Dorset Hunt Sabs on securing the first ever Hunting Act conviction of a basset pack. This victory comes despite flagrant attempts by the hunters to derail the prosecution by invoking the rabbiting exemption, adding in myxomatosis and – a new one on us – inventing mysterious new horn calls. This cynical approach shows exactly why reform of the Hunting Act must extend well beyond a mere ban on trail hunting!”
