TWENTY-one-year-old Michael Connors was fined £100 after admitting hare coursing on a Wimblington farm.
Connors, of Letchworth in Bedfordshire, had pleaded guilty to trespassing in pursuit of game at Hook Farm on January 14.
Nicola Ebbs, prosecuting, said Connors was caught along with four others after police were called to the area by concerned res
idents.
The men had fled with their lurcher-type dogs when the police helicopter had arrived.
Connors had made full admissions in police interview. Miss Ebbs said no game had been found on any of the men.
But she said hare coursing was considered a serious offence in rural areas where farmers live in fear of having to confront gangs of people trespassing on their land.
Anita Waterman, defending, said Connors had since served a five month prison sentence for theft and believed this offence had been disposed of at the same time he was sent to jail.
She said Connors had turned up for court the previous week when the case could not proceed as there was no paperwork available that day and he had been forced to hang around this week as the paperwork was still missing.
Copies of the prosecution file had been obtained and the case had therefore gone ahead. But Mrs Waterman asked magistrates to treat him comparatively leniently because he had been to prison and somehow the hare coursing had been overlooked at that point and he had made two journeys to court and had a long wait on both days.
Magistrates fined Connors £100 and ordered him to pay £55 costs.
However, they deemed the fine had been paid as a result of the time he had spent waiting in the court house.
