A WEST Bagborough man has been cleared of illegally hunting a deer with hounds on the Quantock Hills.

Richard Down, 54, of West Bagborough near Taunton appeared a Taunton Magistrates Court today (Tuesday, November 13) accused of hunting a red deer with dogs, on January 20, on the Quantocks Hills, Bridgwater with no class exemptions under the Hunting Act 2004.

Mr Down, a member of the Quantock Staghounds, was found not guilty with Judge David Taylor saying the evidence presented by the Crown Prosecution Service was 'circumstantial'.

The evidence presented included footage obtained by two conservation and investigation officers from The League Against Cruel Sports which they argued showed red deer being hunted by a pack of hounds being led by Mr Down.

However in the witness box Mr Down insisted this was a trail hunt using 15 hounds, and that at one stage the hounds were 'rioting' in other words 'chasing something they should not have been chasing'.

Mr Down said that it was an unusual occurrence and that when it happened he called the hounds back.

Asked under cross-examination "Were you hunting an identified mammal that day?", Mr Down replied: "Definitely not."

The court also heard from Quantock Staghounds member Elizabeth Gibbons who said she had laid the trail for the hunt that day.

Under cross-examination it was put to her that no trail was laid that day and that it was a 'cover-up' which Mrs Gibbons denied.

Alistair Haggerty, presenting the case for the Crown Prosecution Service said: "The defendant was clearly on the Quantocks that day to hunt."

Defending Mr Down, Peter Glenser QC said: "Mr Down was aware he had members of the public and members of anti-hunt campaign groups watching him that day.

"To behave in the way the prosecution is saying would have been reckless and ridiculous and to behave in such a flagrantly unlawful way does not make any sense at all."

Delivering his verdict, Judge Taylor emphasised that it was the job of the prosecution to make him sure of the defendant's guilt, and said he felt this was a 'circumstantial case'.

"This is not an exercise in judging whether the practice of hunting is right or wrong, it is to apply the law to determine whether unlawful hunting took place," Judge Taylor said.

"I am entirely unsatisfied that Richard Down was intentionally hunting in breach of the Hunting Act 2004 on that day."

Judge Taylor found the defendant not guilty.

Following the case there was a cheer from a number of hunt supporters gathered in the public gallery at Taunton Magistrates Court.

A second defendant Martin Watts, 55, of Washford, had his case thrown out by the judge.