Prescott charged over coursing

Newmarket-based trainer Sir Mark Prescott and celebrity chef Clarissa Dickson Wright are to face charges relating to alleged hare coursing. The pair are due to answer a summons at Scarborough Magistrates Court on 9 November after a private prosecution by the International Fund for Animal Welfare.

They face allegations of hunting hares with dogs at two events near Malton, North Yorkshire, in March and charges of attending the events, at the villages of Nunnington and Amotherby.

In a separate case, being brought by the Crown Prosecution Service, the retired trainer Peter Easterby is charged with allowing his land to be used for hare coursing and attending hare coursing, an activity made illegal at the same time as foxhunting with hounds.