Hunt saboteur convicted of aggravated trespass

Following a two-day trial at Northampton Magistrates Court which concluded on 18 December 2024, a hunt saboteur has been found guilty of aggravated trespass while a hunt was taking part in lawful hunting activities.

Luke Tucker, a member of the Northants Hunt Saboteurs was convicted of trespassing on farm fields at Thorpe Malsor during a meet of the Pytchley with Woodland Hunt on 4 September 2023.

While trespassing, Tucker was found to have been blowing a hunting horn, cracking a whip and shouting with the intention of having the effect of obstructing or disrupting a lawful activity which included trail hunting and hound exercise.

The saboteur was fined £1,000 and ordered to pay costs of £2,800 and a surcharge of £400.

Polly Portwin, Director of Hunting at the Countryside Alliance, said:

“We are pleased to see robust action taken against Luke Tucker.

Anti-hunting extremists often think they are above the law and that the rules don’t apply to them. This verdict is a clear signal that such reckless behaviour designed to disrupt lawful activity will not be tolerated.

The Alliance has been and will continue to be vocal about the very serious danger hunt saboteurs pose to the public and we will continue to urge police forces across the country to take any reports about saboteur activity incredibly seriously.”

Members from this and other local saboteur groups, which regularly target hunts in and around Northamptonshire and Leicestershire, were in the headlines when they accompanied the BBC’s Chris Packham while he was broadcasting livestream on social media when following the Cottesmore Hunt on 28 December.

The Daily Telegraph reported that the Springwatch presenter recently teamed up with a number of saboteurs including the convicted arsonist, Mel Broughton. Broughton previously served a lengthy prison sentence for his part in a bombing campaign. In 2010, he was handed a 10-year prison sentence for planting homemade petrol bombs at the University of Oxford to try to stop the opening of an animal testing laboratory.