A Maidstone man has become the first person to be fined as part of a hare coursing operation across the East of England.

Sydney Samuels, of Oxford Gardens, was handed a £400 fine at Medway Magistrates' Court for breaching a Community Projection Notice (CPN).

The 33-year-old appeared on Thursday, May 19, after breaching the CPN he was served as part of Op Galileo, the national initiative, which primarily aims to combat hare coursing.

He is the first person to be taken to court and fined for breaching a CPN under the scheme after dogs and dead rabbits were found in his car.

Kent Police and six other forces started to work collaboratively in August last year and Samuels was warned on August 27 following seven reports of suspected poaching taking place at Neats Court in Queenborough.

A month later he was issued with the CPN after being stopped while in a vehicle in Eastwood Road. The car was searched under the Poaching Prevention Act 1862 and inside officers found dogs and deceased rabbits.

As part of conditions attached to the notice, Samuels was not allowed to be on private land without the owner's written permission, not allowed to have dogs off-lead and not allowed to be in a possession of a catapult or air weapon.

"These types of offences in the future and will lead to a custodial sentence..."

In January this year, officers were told of two men seen with dogs on private land near Old Ferry Road, Iwade.

Police attended and searched the area and found a flatbed truck where a deceased rabbit was found.

Two men were stopped, one of whom was the Maidstone man, and he was arrested for again breaching the CPN.

When he appeared in court he was issued a three-year Criminal Behaviour Order, which contained conditions to prohibit poaching.

If breached, Samuels faces a jail sentence.

Sgt Darren Walshaw of Kent Police’s Rural Task Force said: "This latest court action shows how the use of the anti-social behaviour legislation can help to bring repeat offenders to justice.

"The latest order will help to restrict the suspect’s ability to commit these types of offences in the future and will lead to a custodial sentence if he ignores it.

"The partnership agreement has worked well since it was launched.

"The initiative has allowed us to use anti-social behaviour legislation across the counties which means that someone who is found to be committing hare coursing offences across several borders will be dealt with as if all of their criminality had occurred in one county and a prosecution can commence sooner."