Jail for men who set dogs on foxes

Probe after WhatsApp messages uncovered

A man shared messages boasting about taking part in “a bit of sport” with friends after setting dogs on wild animals.

In a video shared by Harry Noble, from Pilgrims Way in Stowting, two dogs can be seen shaking a writhing badger.

Messages sent by the 24-yearold on WhatsApp also alluded to instances where dogs were set on foxes.

RSPCA officer Pippa Boyd said: “He recorded voice notes and posted messages about his friends who he went out with for ‘a bit of a sport’ with their dogs.

“In some of the videos, dogs can be seen setting upon a badger.”

Noble was found to have been accompanied on at least one occasion by friends Matthew McWilliam and Jethro Smith.

The discovery of the messages prompted searches of three

properties last October, as well as the seizure of four dogs.

Noble pleaded guilty to three offences, including two charges of wilfully killing, injuring or taking a badger in October 2018.

And at a hearing at Folkestone Magistrates’ Court last Thursday, he was jailed for four months and ordered to pay £2,000 in costs.

He was also disqualified from keeping dogs for life.

McWilliam, from Spitalfield Lane in New Romney, was sentenced to a total of four months.

The 26-year-old was also deprived of dogs Poppy, Tia and Ollie, who will be rehomed.

This came after he pleaded guilty to eight animal welfare charges, including causing a fight to take place between a dog and fox near his home, between October 2018 and April 2019.

Smith, 25, was sentenced to four months in prison and was deprived of his dog, Biscuit.

Among the four offences Smith, from Plantation Close in Hothfield, pleaded guilty to was a charge of hunting a fox and a badger with a dog last October.

Both McWilliam and Smith were banned from ever owning an animal.

Harry Noble was sentenced to four months in prison