Paul Oliver, 40, has been found guilty of animal cruelty charges after he was secretly filmed tossing live fox cubs into kennels for their hounds to eat
A senior huntsman and his partner have been spared jail being secretly filmed tossing live fox cubs into kennels to give hounds 'a taste of blood'.
Paul Oliver, 40, was captured in harrowing footage throwing the animals for his dogs to ravage before their carcasses were later found dumped in a wheelie bin.
The former master of hounds with the South Herefordshire Hunt was convicted of four counts of animal cruelty after a judge rejected his claim that he had relocated two fox cubs in the wild.
Oliver's partner Hannah Rose, 30, who worked for the hunt as a kennel maid, also went on trial alongside terrierman Nathan Parry, 40, who was acquitted.
Birmingham Magistrates' Court heard that Oliver had been secretly filmed preparing to feed the foxes to his hunt hounds at the kennels in Wormelow, Herefordshire, the court heard.
Anti-hunt activists contacted police after installing hidden cameras at the South Herefordshire Hunt kennels in May 2016.
The covert recordings were played to the court which showed Oliver carrying a fox cub into the kennels as hounds can be heard barking.
Minutes later he is seen emerging from the kennel and dumping the dead animal into a commercial bin before spraying it with a liquid.
Oliver was captured in harrowing footage throwing the animals for his dogs to ravage before their carcasses were later found dumped in a wheelie bin
The footage also showed a stick with a noose attached, known as a grasper, being used by Oliver, who had previously been a senior member of Cornwall's Western Hunt.
Oliver was given a 16-week suspended prison sentence for his 'lead role' in killing the cubs, as well as being ordered to pay £300 in costs and a £115 victim surcharge.
The district judge handed Rose a 12-week suspended sentence and the same financial penalties.
The defendants claimed the animals had been killed before being given to the dogs by a blow to the head with an axe.
But District Judge Joanna Dickens told the pair she did not believe their account of events and found them both guilty following a week long trial.
Oliver's partner Hannah Rose, 30, who worked for the hunt as a kennel maid, also went on trial
Opening the case at the start of the trial, prosecutor Simon Davis said: 'The unnecessary suffering involved the killing of fox cubs, effectively feeding the animals... throwing the fox cubs into the kennels of the fox hounds, thereby killing them.'
Rose wept in the dock as she was convicted of the charge while her long-term partner Oliver remained emotionless.
Minutes later he is seen emerging from the kennel and dumping the dead animal into a commercial bin before spraying it with a liquid
The judge said that Oliver stated farmers had been complaining about foxes on their land and that he would refer them to Parry to relocate them.
The judge said: 'Mr Parry believed the fox
