League hails jail term for badger baiters as victory for common sense
The League has welcomed the decision to jail four men found guilty of horrific cruelty to badgers.
Alan Alexander, 32, Richard Simpson, 37, and Paul Tindall, 31, from York, and William Anderson, 26, from Pickering, have each been jailed for 16 weeks after being involved in barbaric acts of cruelty against badgers. The incident took place in Howsham, near Malton on January 30th last year.
Earlier in the trial, Scarborough Magistrates’ Court heard how the men had laughed as they encouraged their dogs to attack the badgers, allowing one to be ‘torn to pieces’ and left to bleed to death. Scarborough RSPCA inspector Geoff Edmond described it as the worst case of badger cruelty he had seen in 20 years.
Two other men, Christopher Holmes and Malcolm Warner, both 28, from York, had previously pled guilty to the offences and were sentenced to 12 weeks suspended prison terms and ordered to carry out 200 hours of community service. All six men were ordered to pay £750 in costs.
League chief executive Joe Duckworth said: “The level of cruelty involved in this is absolutely disgusting and custodial sentences were the only sensible option. We are delighted the judge has seen fit to punish these sick individuals appropriately and hope it will act as a stark warning to others that this sort of animal abuse is not tolerated”.