Four men accused of being involved in an illegal bloodsport have had the charges against them dismissed due to lack of evidence. 

Police detained one man from Norfolk and three from Kent who were seen with a number of lurcher-type dogs on suspicion of hare coursing in fields at Bradenham, near Swaffham, in February 2023.

A Subaru 4x4 vehicle was also seized following a police operation that involved officers using a drone to search for the men.

Aaron Watts, Danny Whiting, Nathan Higgins and Jack Arnold were cleared at Norwich Magistrates' CourtAaron Watts, Danny Whiting, Nathan Higgins and Jack Arnold were cleared at Norwich Magistrates' Court (Image: Newsquest)

Aaron Watts, 42, of Mattishall Lane in Hockering, and Danny Whiting, 40, Nathan Higgins, 37, and Jack Arnold, 31, all from Chatham in Kent, all denied a single charge of being equipped to go hare coursing with dogs.

Arnold had previously been convicted in 2016 for night poaching and permitting a dog to be used in hare coursing, the court was told. 

READ MORE: Police arrest men ‘equipped for hare coursing’

Prosecutor Frederick Sagoe told Norwich Magistrates’ Court: “You look at the particular circumstances of a group of men found on fields with lurcher-type dogs and the only one conclusion is that they were there for hare coursing.”

A 4x4 was seized during police operation at Bradenham, near Swaffham, in February 2023A 4x4 was seized during police operation at Bradenham, near Swaffham, in February 2023 (Image: Norfolk Constabulary)

A dog walker gave evidence to the court he had seen the men running along the edge of a field and in a ditch with the dogs which he had found “very suspicious”.

PC Samuel Bates, who was among the officers called to the scene, said the men had been found emerging from an overgrown area and that the dogs had been muddied and had cuts to their noses and legs. 

READ MORE: Hare coursing incidents in Norfolk show sharp fall

The men were found with lurcher-type dogs on land off Hale Road in BradenhamThe men were found with lurcher-type dogs on land off Hale Road in Bradenham (Image: Google)

But defence solicitor Andrew Campbell said photographs of the dogs did not show them covered in mud or injured.

It was also disputed that any of the dogs were in fact lurchers, he added.

Magistrates dismissed the charges saying that there was “no case to answer” as an intention to hare course had not been proved. 

Searches of the men and the vehicles had found no evidence and photos had been inconsistent with witness evidence, they added.