Senior huntsman Paul Oliver and kennel maid Hannah Rose have been found guilty of causing unnecessary suffering to fox cubs which were killed by hounds at the South Herefordshire Hunt Kennels, at Wormelow, near Ross-on-Wye, in 2016.

District Judge Joanna Dickens, giving verdicts at Birmingham Magistrates’ Court, convicted Oliver of four counts of animal cruelty and Rose of three counts of the same charge.

Terrierman Nathan Parry was found not guilty of causing suffering to four foxes after the judge accepted that he believed the animals would be relocated in the wild.

Delivering her verdicts, the judge said video clips recorded at the hunt’s kennels by anti-hunting activists using covert cameras "speak for themselves" and had not been challenged by the defence.

Oliver, Rose and two other defendants who pleaded guilty before their trial are due to be sentenced later today.