Man guilty of hare coursing

A MAN has been found guilty of two hare coursing-related charges after a trial relating to incidents in Angus and Fife.

Alexander Whyte, 47, from Roseacres in Newport, stood trial for a number of wildlife offences from February and March this year.

Despite expert testimony from former police specialist and wildlife detective Alan Stewart, three charges of hunting wild mammals in Eassie, in a location between Westmuir and Meigle, and in Newport, were considered as “no case to answer” following representation by solicitor Jim Laverty.

Two lesser charges of possessing items at Eassie and Westmuir with the purpose of killing or causing injury to wild mammals, namely lurcher dogs, were found to have sufficient evidence at Forfar Sheriff Court.

Depute f iscal Tom Dysart said legislation used to prosecute hare coursing is “not without its challenges” and led to an effort by the Crown to provide snapshots of activity that would lead to an overall picture of Whyte’s actions between February 23 and March 12.

Summing up, Mr Dysart said: “If you have a dog with a propensity to hunt hares, take it to a place with lots of hares, and do not have it under control, that does constitute recklessness.

“What the Crown is trying to establish with these three events is paint a picture with a set of circumstances.”

Whyte denied hunting brown hares with lurcher dogs on February 23 at Cookston Farm, Eassie, and at the unclassified Linross Road between Meigle and Kirriemuir on March 9.

Sheriff Pino di Emidio found the hunting charges to lack sufficient evidence but found Whyte guilty of having equipment for the purpose of poaching at both locations.

Whyte further denied possessing equipment atWest Friarton Farm, Newport, on March 12 and this charge was found to have insufficient evidence.

The court had heard evidence from Eassie farmer David Robertson and his son Ewan over sightings of Whyte in a field with a dog and hare next to their house, Kirriemuir policeman Paul Morgan, who saw Whyte parked in a field near Linross Road with two dogs off the lead, and Cuparbased constables Gavin Dewar and Ruth Goldie, who arrested Whyte on the A92 following reports of hare coursing nearby.

Whyte was fined £600.

This picture of two men with a lurchertype dog in a field at a farm in Eassie was presented in court.