Dorset man, 23, charged with sixteen rural offences

A 23-year-old Dorset man has been charged with sixteen rural offences including stealing goods and wildlife offences.

The nameless man has been charged in connection with a warrant carried out by officers from Dorset Police’s Rural Crime Team.

Officers were supported by colleagues from Hampshire Constabulary as they conducted an address in Bransgore in Hampshire on 3 October 2022.

It was part of an investigation into allegations of cruelty to deer and hares.

The 23-year-old man was arrested and following a detailed investigation he has now been charged.

This includes seven counts of causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal, and two offences of attempting to kill a deer at night.

He has also been charged with four counts of criminal damage, handling stolen goods, and using a motor vehicle without third party insurance.

He is due to appear at Poole Magistrates' Court on Friday 20 January 2023.

Dorset Police’s Rural Crime Team said two other men arrested as part of the investigation remain released under investigation as enquiries continue.

It comes after nine police forces across the north of England recently formed a region-wide Community Protection Notice (CPN), described as a "joint strike against cross-border poachers."

This means all nine police forces will now work as one to prosecute hare coursers, poachers and other rural offenders.

It also hands police and the courts greater powers to prosecute serial cross-border criminals who breach their CPN conditions by repeatedly targeting rural victims.