RETIRED CHIEF INSPECTOR OF DYFED POWYS POLICE PHIL DAVIES HAS BEEN GIVING ADVICE TO FOX HUNTERS ON HOW TO DEAL WITH THE COURTS AND ANTI-CRUELTY ACTIVISTS
THE EX-COP SUGGESTED WAYS TO CREATE A “SMOKESCREEN” TO CREATE “DOUBT” THAT A FOX HAS BEEN DELIBERATELY HUNTED AND MAKE A DEFENCE IN COURT MORE FAVOURABLE
THE HUNT SABOTEURS ASSOCIATION CLAIMS THAT DAVIES IS “ENCOURAGING CRIMINAL ACTIVITY.”
By Mark Redfern
The Ex-Chief Inspector of Dyfed Powys Police (DPP) has been revealed to be tutoring hunters on how to get out of trouble with the law.
Phil Davies was in the police force for 30 years, spending 18 years as a higher-up in the Dyfed Powys area, and now is a Police Liaison Consultant for the pro-hunt Countryside Alliance.
He told a webinar for hunters that they should gather evidence of saboteur interference to create a “smokescreen” to escape prosecution if foxes were found to be killed.
The leaked Zoom call from August 2020 was put out by the Hunt Saboteurs Association to raise awareness of what they say is the concerted effort of hunters to evade anti-cruelty legislation.
Davies spelled out his advice in detail: “If we’re accused of illegal hunting and we’ve got the saboteurs out and there’s horns being blown by them, what better than to produce a video to the court to say it wasn’t us encouraging the hounds on.”
He continued: “What it will do is create that smokescreen or that element of doubt that we haven’t deliberately hunted a fox.”
Davies also gave advice to hunters on how to stop PR disasters by not shouting at hunt monitors whilst in traditional hunting garb, and also on how hunters can avoid incriminating themselves on their body-cameras.
The ex-cop told hunters: “[Body-cameras have] got a lovely big red button on them or you can have it on the button coming down your sleeve, and you can be selective as to when you turn the video recorder on and video recorder off.”
The intent of this advice is to give hunters an option to be selective of what actions they film so as to not incriminate themselves, in response to a viewer’s question at the end of the talk.
Benjamin Mancroft, 3rd Baron Mancroft, an Eton-educated Conservative peer, was chairing the webinar and made sure to warn attendees that all content of the meeting is to be “kept amongst ourselves.”
Lee Moon from the Hunt Saboteurs Association (HSA) told voice.wales: “Davies is a well paid employee of the Countryside Alliance and is using the skills and knowledge he acquired during his long police career to enable hunters to create a ‘smokescreen’ that allows them to engage in illegal acts.”
The retired officer seemed to know that his advice could get him into trouble, at one point in the video saying “I hope there’s no police officers listening in.” But this isn’t the first time Davies has been vocal about his opinions on fox hunting.
Davies addressed a National Police Chiefs Council conference in 2016 about fox hunting and anti-cruelty hunt monitors, so even though he is no longer employed by the police, Davies still has the ear of senior officers.
His comments also shine a light on his conduct whilst serving as the head of DPP between 1992-2010.
In 2001, before fox hunting became a criminal act, Dyfed Powys Police had to fork out £21,000 in an out-of-court settlement to a group of seven hunt monitors who were arrested while eating lunch in their minivan near the hunt and held for 10 hours in Brecon police station.
The Hunting Act was written into law in 2004 and forbid the killing of foxes for sport, with a few useful exceptions to keep huntsmen on their horses such as artificial trail hunting and flushing foxes for birds of prey to kill.
Davies was still head of DPP when the 2005 hunting season approached and his force told the press at the time they held talks with “representatives of the Countryside Alliance,” but ultimately “Dyfed-Powys Police do not intend to police every hunt.”
The Countryside Alliance noted in 2011 that, during Davies’ reign, officers from DPP had never fined, cautioned, or prosecuted any hunt members since legislation granted them powers to do so.
HSA’s Lee Moon continued: “The fact that an ex-police inspector mutters that he ‘hopes no police officers are watching’ is proof enough that he, and other panel members, are encouraging criminal activity.”
“We’re sure Dyfed Powys Police will be investigating his actions…”
Phil Davies was contacted directly to provide a comment but refused.
