Three senior huntsmen at a Northumberland-based hunt have been found guilty of illegal fox-hunting after being chased around the Lowick area by investigators with cameras from the League Against Cruel Sports.

Joint Master Timothy Wyndham Basil Smalley was fined £2075, Huntsman Ian McKie was fined £1150 and Kennel Huntsman Alan Proe was fined £480. All three men are in their 50’s and all three had additional victim surcharges and court costs added to their fines.

After the case McKie claimed that there was “no intention whatever to chase a fox” and added “What do we do? Put all the hounds down and go away? People’s livelihoods are at stake. And people do enjoy seeing us in the countryside. It’s a tradition and it would be very sad to see it end”.