Badger case overturned

A hunt supporter was found not guilty on appeal at Exeter Crown Court on Friday in a case based on video evidence supplied by the League Against Cruel Sports (LACS).

Andrew Bellamy, huntsman with the Spooners and West Dartmoor Hunt was convicted last year of damaging a badger sett, but the conviction was overturned by Recorder Malcolm Gibney who ruled that the prosecution could not prove Mr Bellamy was one of the two men seen on the video. The location on Dartmoor shown on the footage was also ruled not to have hosted an active sett. LACS hunt monitors claimed to have recognised Mr Bellamy on their secretly filmed evidence after he was featured in Shooting Times?s sister title Horse & Hound. ?I?m just glad it is all over,? said Mr Bellamy.