Rabbit hunter pleads guilty over rifle alert

had spotted the man carrying a firearm. The weapon was a loaded air rifle and 32-year-old Johnathan Reaney told police he used it to hunt rabbits in the Colne Valley.

But at Kirklees Magistrates’ Court in Huddersfield, he was told that his behaviour would have caused anxiety to anyone, particularly following recent reports of gun crime in the Huddersfield area.

Reaney, of Town End in Golcar, pleaded guilty to possessing a loaded air weapon in a public place and having in his possession a tin of cannabis.

Prosecutor Vanessa Jones explained that police were contacted about Reaney on August 18.

She said: “A member of the public told them that he had seen Reaney on Heath Road in Linthwaite.

“He was seen with a firearm in the woods and then getting into a vehicle and driving off towards Blackmoorfoot Road.”

Police found the described car nearby and Reaney stopped for them and the air weapon was on the front passenger seat.

Reaney denied that he killed the rabbits to cook them, telling magistrates that he took up shooting as a hobby.

He said to them: “I do target practice and will go to a shooting range and shoot things or vermin.

“In the Colne Valley there’s farmland everywhere and farmers want rid of rabbits.”

Magistrates said they needed a report from probation staff before Reaney could be sentenced.

Chairwoman Anthea Ainley told him: “The public will inevitably be very anxious when they see anybody walking around with a firearm.”