First Criminal Behaviour Order issued for poaching in Yorkshire

A man from North Yorkshire has been issued a Criminal Behaviour Order (CBO) for poaching offences on private farmland in Normanby, Ryedale earlier this year.

This makes 32-year-old Ryan Thomas Spence from Redcar and Cleveland the first offender in North Yorkshire to be given a CBO for poaching offences.

A CBO is an order designed to tackle persistent anti-social behaviour in individuals. This CBO prevents Spence from:

Trespassing on any land with a dog, firearm, or any item capable of firing a projectile;
Straying from any highway, bridleway, or public right of way onto any land;
Driving, or be in, a motor vehicle or mechanically propelled vehicle other than on a publicly maintained road without written permission of the landowner;
Being part of a group involved in the hunting of any wild mammals with dogs or firearms or any items capable of firing a projectile.

Spence was also handed a six-month driving ban and just over £1000 of fines at Scarborough magistrates court on Thursday (September 9).

Poaching offences

The CBO related to poaching offences earlier this year; shortly before 9:00a.m on February 15, 2022, Spence entered private farmland with three dogs in Normanby, Ryedale.

North Yorkshire Police said that witnesses saw one of the dogs chasing a hare on the land and called the police, who attended the location and arrested Spence a short time later. Officers also seized the dogs.

Spence has previously been convicted of a number of poaching offences in North Yorkshire, East Yorkshire, Norfolk and Scotland.

Ryan Thomas Spence. Image from North Yorkshire Police

Commenting on the case, Inspector Clive Turner from the Rural Task Force said:

“Ryan Spence has caused significant harm to our rural communities over a number of years, and I’m pleased he has now faced the courts and we have been successful in having the Criminal Behaviour Order granted.