Hunting Act 2004: Prosecutions

(asked on 26th April 2016) - View Source

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many people were (a) proceeded against and (b) convicted of an offence under the Hunting Act 2004 in each police force area in 2015.


Answered by
 Portrait
Rory Stewart
This question was answered on 3rd May 2016

I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to the hon. Member for Foyle, Mark Durkan, on 23 June 2015, PQ3270.

2014 figures for the number of persons proceeded against at magistrates' courts and found guilty at all courts for offences under the Hunting Act 2004 are set out, by police force area in England and Wales, in table 1.

Table 1: Number of persons proceeded against at magistrates' courts and found guilty at all courts for offences under the Hunting Act 2004 (1), by police force area, England and Wales, 2014(2)(3)

Police force area

Proceeded against

Found guilty

Avon and Somerset

5

-

Bedfordshire

-

-

Cambridgeshire

3

-

Cheshire

-

-

Cleveland

2

-

Cumbria

2

-

Derbyshire

-

-

Durham

3

3

Essex

-

-

Gloucestershire

-

-

Hampshire

-

-

Hertfordshire

-

-

Humberside

17

13

Kent

3

3

Lancashire

5

5

Leicestershire

1

-

Lincolnshire

4

2

Merseyside

-

-

Metropolitan Police

-

-

Norfolk

4

-

Northumbria

3

3

North Yorkshire

-

-

Nottinghamshire

-

-

South Yorkshire

-

-

Staffordshire

-

-

Suffolk

7

4

Surrey

-

-

Sussex

-

-

Thames Valley

2

2

West Mercia

3

-

West Yorkshire

-

-

Wiltshire

-

-

England and Wales

64

35

(1) Includes Section 1,3(1)(2), 5(1)(a)(b)(c)(d), 5 (2)(a)(b)(c) and 6 of Hunting Act 2004.

(2) The figures given in the table relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences it is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe.

(3) Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used.

Source: Justice Statistics Analytical Services - Ministry of Justice.

There are no figures available for 2015.

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