BHSA Calls Out LACS Lies
- dereckhoward99
- 11 minutes ago
- 3 min read
The British Hound Sports Association has called out yet more mistruths from so-called charity the League Against Cruel Sports after it staged its latest attention-seeking stunt in Cirencester.
On Thursday, LACS campaigns manager John Petrie wandered around the Gloucestershire town’s Market Square, harassing locals with a stuffed toy fox doused in fake blood.
According to the League’s own social media pages, Petrie “spoke to shoppers and even carol singers in Cirencester’s Market Square before heading to the headquarters of the British Hounds Sports Association (BHSA) nearby.”
However, Oliver Hughes, managing director of the BHSA, pointed out that Petrie did not in fact pay him a visit and accused the charity of peddling yet more mistruths.
“I can confirm that there were many more people pointing and laughing at the stooge that they [LACS] sent out to peddle their propaganda than who actually took any notice,” Hughes wrote on Instagram.
“I can also confirm that they are once again lying. I was at the BHSA Office all day yesterday and they did not visit us,” he added.
The BHSA has complained to the charity commission numerous times about LACS’ campaigning activities, including its use of inflated or fabricated figures on illegal hunting. Since the Hunting Act came into force twenty years ago, there have been just 25 convictions against organised hunts across 250,000 days of hunting.
The charity has come under increased scrutiny in recent months. In June it was forced to pay £30,000 to its former chief executive Andy Knott for breach of departure agreement. Knott had previously described the charity as an “empty vessel for the Labour Party” and is seeking a further £3 million in damages over its alleged failure to protect him from “extreme threats and harassment”.
Worse still, in April, LACS chair and Labour MP for Northeast Somerset and Hanham Dan Norris was arrested on suspicion of rape and child sex offences. The alleged offences are mostly thought to have occurred in the 2000s, with one accusation of rape from the 2020s. He has since stepped down from the charity and had the whip removed by the Parliamentary Labour Party, however he remains an MP until the investigation is concluded.
Nor was this the only association between the League and suspected sexual predators. In January, former veterans minister Ivor Caplin was arrested by police in Brighton for allegedly planning to meet up with a 15-year-old boy who he had been messaging on the internet. Caplin, who was once of the original sponsors of the Hunting Act, had been awarded a lifetime membership by LACS in recognition of his support. In 2005, as a minister, Caplin tried to ban trail hunting on Ministry of Defence land.
Given their chequered recent history, it’s a wonder why LACS would think anyone should listen to them moralising about the state of modern hunting. But we suppose Christmas is a time for make-believe.
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