England: Hobby hunters torture fox cubs

A police investigation into the alleged killing of fox cubs by hunting dogs had stalled for nearly two years because the officer assigned to the case was himself under internal investigation, writes the BBC.

Richard Barradale-Smith of West Mercia Police has now been cleared of all charges against him – including that he was having an affair with anti-hunting activists.

The allegations against him arose when a video emerged in 2016 showing fox cubs being «offered» to hunting dogs to play with.

Police have now announced that five people will be charged with animal cruelty in connection with the case.

Three men and two women, aged between 29 and 54, are due to appear in court in Birmingham next week.

In May 2016, activists from the «Hunt Investigation Team» filmed an alleged hobby hunter from South Herefordshire using hidden cameras. The footage apparently shows him carrying young foxes into a shed with barking hunting dogs, before reappearing with their carcasses.

The anti-hunting activists believe the hobby hunter is training his hunting dogs to regard foxes as worthless prey.

The video footage and carcasses of fox cubs were handed over to police officer Richard Barradale-Smith, who had previously investigated complaints from animal welfare campaigners.

But West Mercia Police launched an internal investigation against the officer instead, after receiving allegations that Barradale-Smith was in a relationship with two anti-hunting activists, including the woman who had brought him the evidence.

This would have constituted misconduct in public office.

Police searched both his home and that of the anti-hunting activist, who had asked the BBC not to use her name.

Anonymous threatening letters were sent to another woman who had campaigned against fox hunting and was also accused of having an affair with Richard Barradale-Smith. She passed the letters on to the police.

The person who made the allegation works in agriculture and has close ties to the South Herefordshire Hunt. However, they are not one of those who have been charged.

The BBC further reports that the person did not name the officer and told police that they did not wish to be further involved.

Mr Barradale-Smith's family believes it is a «smear campaign» from within recreational hunting circles, aimed at disrupting the fox cub case.

Further allegations against the police officer were made in October 2016 by a senior prosecutor, who said that officer Barradale-Smith had passed confidential information to the activist who had given him the video evidence.

He was also accused of bombarding someone with emails.

This triggered a separate misconduct investigation and he was suspended from the fox cub case.

In January 2017, the officer was also signed off sick.

In March 2018, the investigation into him was concluded and Richard Barradale-Smith was cleared of any misconduct.

Now, within just a few weeks, the decision to prosecute the fox cub tormentors was made, two years after the investigation began.

The Hunt Investigation Team describes the response of the police as a scandal, claiming that the police appeared more interested in «harrassing» the officer who had investigated the allegations than in investigating the allegations themselves.

The anti-hunting activist who set the case in motion and wishes to remain anonymous said: «The police are there to investigate without fear or favour when evidence of a crime is brought to their attention.»

«For two years they have been investigating an unfounded claim that I had an affair with a police officer I met once. It would have been very easy to show that this was completely false. It was presumably about a conflict of interest.»

In a joint statement, West Mercia Police and the Crown Prosecution Service said that the fox cub investigation had involved a number of «complex factors».