A man described by police as a 'repeat rural crime offender' has been jailed after breaching an order that banned him from having a catapult.

The offence came to light after Scott Matthew Cochrane was seen in a video with the weapon which had been uploaded to social media.

Cochrane, aged 30, was sentenced to 12 weeks in prison by magistrates after admitting breaching a criminal behaviour order and a suspended sentence order.

He had been made the subject of a three-year criminal behaviour order last November after admitting being in possession of a wild animal, which he was prohibited from doing by a previous order, and hunting a wild animal with a wild dog – an offence under section 1 of the Hunting Act 2004.

The latest order prevented Cochrane from entering a number of rural areas of Dorset, Wiltshire and Hampshire and also included a number of other conditions, one of which stipulated that he must not to be in possession of a catapult.

Dorset Police said on Christmas Day last year, officers were made aware of a live stream video that had been uploaded to social media that showed Cochrane sat in the passenger seat of a 4x4 vehicle in a rural location.

The video showed Cochrane pull out a catapult and pretend to fire it at the person who was filming. The occupants then stop the vehicle when they notice something in a field and the video stops moments later.

Cochrane was arrested on January 3 and confirmed it was him in the video. He did not disclose who else was in it.

In November 2019, Cochrane had been given a suspended jail term of eight weeks in prison, suspended for 12 months.

When he was sentenced on March 6 at Poole, the eight-week suspended term was activated and Cochrane, of Yarrow Close in the town, was also sentenced to a further four weeks in prison for breaching the criminal behaviour order, resulting in a total sentence of 12 weeks in prison.

Following the case, PC Claire Dinsdale, Rural Crime Co-ordinator for Dorset Police, said: “Scott Cochrane showed a blatant disregard for court orders that were in place to protect wild animals as he had previously been sentenced for coursing offences.

“Coursing with dogs and poaching is a national priority for both rural and wildlife crime and there are many repeat victims across the UK.

“Dorset Police is part of the national strategy between 22 police forces, Operation Galileo, where civil and criminal powers will be used to prevent such offending by hare coursers and protect vulnerable victims.

“We will continue our efforts to protect wild animals and orders such as this enable us to take action against repeat offenders.

“As ever, we are reliant on members of our rural communities reporting information and we would encourage anyone with information about ongoing incidents, or intelligence that can help us target our resources, to contact us.”

For more information on wildlife crime, including hare and deer coursing and poaching, visit the National Wildlife Crime Unit’s website at www.nwcu.police.uk