Hare-coursing pair banned from keeping dogs

Two men have been banned from keeping dogs after admitting using the animals to hunt wild hares.

Alexander Stewart, 35, was given a community payback order for 100 hours of unpaid work and Jackie Stewart, 42, was fined £1,000 after earlier pleading guilty at Forfar Sheriff Court to wildlife offences.

The men, from Aberdeen, were caught after a local farmer and his father recognised Alexander Stewart's blue Subaru from previous coursing incidents in the Forfar area, prosecutors said.