Trial for alleged illegal hunting adjourned
THE trial of two men accused of illegally hunting a fox with dogs has been adjourned until next month so lawyers for both the prosecution and defence can make written submissions to the court.
David Lewis, 50, and Gareth Frain, 25, are accused of hunting a wild mammal with dogs near Bridestowe on Dartmoor in Devon on December 14, 2019.
Both men, who were employed by the Lamerton Hunt, deny the charges against them.
The trial started on Monday at Exeter Magistrates Court and continued over two days.
The trial is being heard by a judge sitting alone in the magistrates court.
It was adjourned yesterday until Thursday March 18 at which a verdict is expected to be given by the judge having heard the evidence and examined the written submissions from both sides.
The court was shown footage of the hunt filmed by anti-hunt saboteurs of the incident in question.
Prosecutors said Lewis, of Lewdown, Devon, held the senior position of huntsman on the day, while Frain, of Egloskerry, Cornwall, was an assistant, known as a ‘whipper-in’.
Frain denied that his hounds were out of control in their pursuit of a fox. He also denied witness claims that he encouraged the hounds to pursue the animal by saying “on, on, on!” to them.
The prosecution also alleged that Frain had not been trying to stop the hounds chasing the fox when footage showed him riding towards a road.
They said he was merely keeping the hounds safe while they were allowed to pursue the fox.
Frain denied that this was the case, although he admitted, in hindsight, that the route he had chosen was not necessarily the quickest way to get ahead of the hounds.
The fox survived the incident, which took place approximately two kilometres east of Bridestowe and south of Okehampton.
Earlier the court was told that a scented trail had been laid for the hounds to follow, in line with common practice following the hunting ban.
The 2004 Hunting Act means foxes cannot be killed by dogs as part of a hunt.
One or two dogs can ‘flush out’ a fox, which should then be shot.
The trial continues.
AHOSPITAL trust has been told to make improvements to its surgical care services following a series of so-called “never events”.
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) warned Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust that changes must be made to prevent further such incidents from occurring.
A ‘never event’ is a serious patient safety incident that is “entirely preventable and should not happen if healthcare providers follow national guidance on how to avoid them”, CQC said. Each never event has the potential to cause serious harm or death, though this does not have to happen for it to be categorised as such.
In December, CQC carried out an announced inspection at short notice to see if action had been taken following six never events that took place within the surgical care group, and one within the emergency department, between February and October 2020.
Following the inspection, a warning notice was issued that required the trust to make significant improvements and to send CQC a report outlining what action it would take.
Amanda Williams, head of hospital inspections at CQC, said: “We have told Royal Cornwall Hospital NHS Trust that it must carry out a number of actions in response to the never events to ensure patient safety and to prevent a reoccurrence.
“Although each incident was investigated internally at the time to understand what had gone wrong, and there was some evidence of learning and changes to practices, more still needs to be done.
“We recognise the additional pressures that staff are under as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, however never events are extremely serious and we will continue to monitor the trust closely to ensure that it has taken appropriate action to address these issues and that improvements are made and fully embedded.”
Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust delivers care from three main sites – Royal Cornwall Hospital in Truro, St Michael’s Hospital in Hayle and West Cornwall Hospital in Penzance.
Inspectors visited all three hospitals as never events had been reported at each. They found governance processes were not effective enough to ensure that changes were made across the trust, and staff did not receive adequate training in response to the never events. Staff recognised and reported incidents and near misses, which were investigated by managers, but lessons learned were not shared through the whole team and wider service, CQC said.
However, the service was found to use systems and processes to safely prescribe, administer, record and store medicines. When things went wrong, staff apologised and provided patients with information and support. Staff felt respected, supported and valued and there was an open culture where they could raise concerns, CQC said.
CQC rated Royal Cornwall Hospital NHS Trust as requires improvement overall. Royal Cornwall Hospital was rated requires improvement overall and requires improvement for surgery. West Cornwall Hospital was rated good overall but requires improvement for surgery, while St Michael’s Hospital was rated good overall and good for surgery.