CONVICTION REPORTED BY HEREFORDSHIRE HUNT SABS

In court today, Sam Staniland accepted a plea bargain and was found guilty of multiple animal cruelty charges related to his role as (ex) huntsman of the Essex and Suffolk Hunt. The Stanilands are a local family, with Sam starting out his hunting career whipping in at the Ludlow where his mother was hunt secretary for twenty years. The Stanilands also have close links to the Herefordshire and Clifton and Wheatland Hunts. Sam had been previously convicted while at the Meynell and his whipper in at the Essex and Suffolk (also up on further Hunting Act charges alongside Staniland) was Jamie Price, who whipped in for a season at the Herefordshire and Clifton. This case is the perfect illustration of how convicted hunt staff are not just bad apples but part of a network of cruelty and criminality that underpins the 'country tradition' the BHSA, Countryside Alliance and Hunting Kind are so keen to preserve.