League Against Cruel Sports criticised over its tactics
The League Against Cruel Sports (LACS) has been admonished by the Charity Commission for what the Hunting Office termed “a campaign of intimidation of… the West Somerset Vale hunt”.
LACS was reported to the Charity Commission by the Hunting Office after a blog on the LACS website in September stated it would “target [the hunt’s] corporate sponsors until [the hunt] see fit to discipline a member of their staff who while on duty assaulted a person lawfully going about their business”.
This referred to whipper-in David Bevan, who pleaded guilty on 6 September to assaulting “hunt monitor” Paul Tillsley. He was given a 12 month conditional discharge.
A Charity Commission spokesman said: “We have reminded [LACS] that any activity carried out in their name must be in accordance with the charity’s aims.
“We have also referred the charity trustees to our guidance on trustees’ roles and responsibilities.”
A LACS spokesman said: “It’s an over-reaction. We are sorry the Charity Commission has been dragged into this.”
This news story was first published in the current issue of H&H (15 December 2011)
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A self-confessed newshound, farmer’s daughter and journalist of many years' experience, Charlotte worked on regional papers before joining H&H in 2007. A regular rider, she visited Ireland in 2010 to investigate the fate of Irish horses through the recession, to much acclaim, and reported from the FEI General Assembly in Rio de Janeiro in 2011. She left Horse & Hound in March 2013.