Disturbing audio clips have been launched of two males callously discussing utilizing canine to hunt hares in Aberdeenshire.
Alexander Stewart and Jackie Stewart have been sentenced for heinous wildlife offences after admitting to animal cruelty at Forfar Sheriff Court docket immediately. The duo's barbaric acts - which came about between October 2020 and November 2020 - got here to gentle after an area farmer noticed a blue Subaru belonging to Alexander pulling out of the crossroads of Powmyre and Kinalty.
The wrongdoer's automobile was recognised resulting from his earlier convictions of hare coursing within the space. He went on to report the matter to the police and to his father, who promptly drove to Redwell Farm and the Balindarg space, which he suspected can be a probable location for coursers to hunt.
On arrival, he noticed Alexander Stewart’s automobile parked on the highway going through him earlier than witnessing two people inside the area to his proper. Considered one of them had a tan-coloured lurcher canine on a lead, which led him to consider they had been hare coursing.
Inside seconds, police arrived on the scene and noticed Jackie Stewart and a boy working in direction of the Subaru automobile, which occupied Alexander Stewart and two different boys. The duo had been arrested and detained after officers searched the automobile and seized a cell phone and a pair of binoculars whereas the group was taken to Dundee Police Workplace for additional inquiries.
After inspection Jackie Stewart's cell was later retrieved from one of many boys. Each units had been despatched for evaluation the place it was found Alexander Stewart’s cellphone held a number of voice observe messages - together with how he had purchased a canine to kill hares.
One other revealed how he purchased his Subaru automobile to go poaching whereas an extra clip confirmed that he had been poaching in Aberdeen. A chilling picture of a younger boy holding a lifeless hare beside a lurcher was additionally discovered on the gadget.
Jackie Stewart’s cell phone revealed a textual content message, studying: 'A primary chase killed it over down a highway’. It additionally held a video of him with Alexander Stewart and the boys throughout the identical interval.
The footage is blacked out because the cellphone is put right into a pocket, however the sound retains working. Alexander and Jackie Stewart may be heard discussing the decline of hares within the space as a result of inhabitants dying out from them being killed.
Alexander Stewart was given a Group Payback Order with 100 hours of unpaid work and Jackie Stewart was fined £1000 after having beforehand pled responsible at Forfar Sheriff Court docket to wildlife offences carried out between October 16 and eight November, 2020.
The court docket granted the prosecutors movement for the forfeiture of a automobile, three cell phones and a set of binoculars. They had been additionally slapped with a ban from proudly owning canine for six months.
Talking after the sentencing, Fiona Caldwell, Head of the Crown’s Wildlife and Environmental Crime Unit mentioned: "I welcome the conviction and sentence of Alexander and Jackie Stewart. Hare coursing is a merciless and wholly unlawful act.
" The Crown will proceed to work to make sure that anybody who hunts hares with canine is dropped at justice. We might encourage anybody who might have data on hare coursing to contact the police."
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