MP accuses police chiefs of ‘cover-up’ over hunt

PROSECUTION FAILED BECAUSE ‘THERE WAS CLEARLY COLLUSION’ - WESTERN

- HARRY TAYLOR News Reporter

The Warwickshire Hunt and, inset below, Matt Western MP, left, and PCC Philip Seccombe

AN MP has accused the former head of a Midlands police force and a serving police and crime commissioner of a “cover-up” in the failed prosecution of an alleged illegal hunt.

Matt Western said the Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) of Warwickshire, Philip Seccombe, and then-chief constable Debbie Tedds had been involved in halting a case against Warwickshire Hunt from going to court.

The Labour MP for Warwick and Leamington said Conservative PCC Mr Seccombe had “failed” constituents, as he called for the position to be abolished as he introduced a Bill in Parliament.

Speaking in the House of Commons, he said: “This became an issue for me in Warwickshire, not just through casework and wider constituents’ concerns, and there are many, but was truly crystallised by the news story of a cover-up between Warwickshire Hunt, Warwickshire Police and the Police and Crime Commissioner.