‘Prolific’ Yorkshire poacher fined £1,000 and given driving ban

A prolific poacher caught hare coursing in North Yorkshire has become the first offender in the county to be given a criminal behaviour order (CBO) for poaching.

Ryan Thomas Spence was also handed a six-month driving ban and just over £1,000 of fines at Scarborough Magistrates Court on Thursday 9 September.

Mr Spence, 32, went onto private farmland with three dogs in Normanby, near Kirkbymoorside in Ryedale, shortly before 9am on 15 February 2022.

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Witnesses saw one of the dogs chasing a hare on the land and called the police. Officers arrived and arrested Spence a short time later and also seized the dogs.

Ryan Thomas Spence © North Yorkshire Police

North Yorkshire Police descried Mr Spence as a “prolific national offender”, having previously been convicted of a number of poaching offences in North Yorkshire, East Yorkshire, Norfolk and Scotland.

The CBO served to the poacher prevents him from:

• Trespassing on any land with a dog, firearm, or any item capable of firing a projectile
• Straying from any highway, bridleway, or public right of way onto any land
• Driving, or being in, a motor vehicle or mechanically propelled vehicle other than on a publicly maintained road without written permission of the landowner
• Being part of a group involved in the hunting of any wild mammals with dogs or firearms or any items capable of firing a projectile

Insp Clive Turner from North Yorkshire Police’s rural task force said: “Ryan Spence has caused significant harm to our rural communities over a number of years, and I’m pleased he has now faced the courts and we have been successful in having the criminal behaviour order granted.

“Poaching is a serious offence; it damages local businesses, economies and communities.”