Jolyon Maugham will not be prosecuted for killing fox with baseball bat while wearing kimono, RSPCA says

Announcement follows postmortem that concluded animal was ‘killed swiftly’ 

Rory Sullivan
Thursday 05 March 2020 14:19 GMT
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The barrister had tweeted: 'Already this morning I have killed a fox with a baseball bat. How’s your Boxing Day going?'
The barrister had tweeted: 'Already this morning I have killed a fox with a baseball bat. How’s your Boxing Day going?'

The RSPCA has said it will not prosecute anti-Brexit campaigner and prominent barrister Jolyon Maugham for clubbing a fox to death with a baseball bat.

Mr Maugham sparked outrage when he revealed on Twitter on Boxing Day that he had killed the animal after became trapped in netting around a hen house in his garden.

Over 48,000 people signed an online petition calling for him to be prosecuted for his actions.

However, the animal welfare charity – which has prosecuting powers – confirmed on Thursday it would not be taking the matter further.

In a statement, a spokeswoman said: “It is important to understand that it is not necessarily illegal to kill a fox, but if unnecessary suffering is caused, a criminal offence may have been committed.

“An independent postmortem and forensic veterinary assessment of the fox’s body was carried out and the findings indicate the fox was killed swiftly.

“Therefore, in this case, the prosecutions department determined that the evidential threshold needed to take a prosecution under the CPS code was not met under any legislation relating to animals or wildlife.”​

The spokesperson added that the charity does not condone the killing of healthy foxes and recommends that people free foxes trapped in fencing where possible.

Mr Maugham, who was wearing his wife’s kimono when he beat the fox to death, caused an outcry when he tweeted: “Already this morning I have killed a fox with a baseball bat. How’s your Boxing Day going?”

He later apologised, writing: “No one should relish killing animals – and I certainly didn’t ... Many or most councils in London treat foxes as an urban pest. And at least one recommends clubbing them. To those concerned I have broken the law, I called and spoke to the RSPCA and left my contact details.”

In a statement responding to the RSPCA’s decision not to prosecute, Mr Maugham said: “I welcome the RSPCA’s decision ... that there is no basis on which they can properly bring a private prosecution.”

He apologised for the “upset” he caused, adding: “It was my intention to convey in a gently self-deprecating manner the incongruity of my Boxing Day morning. I got that wrong.”

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