Television chef Clarissa Dickson-Wright and a leading racehorse trainer yesterday pleaded guilty to hunting offences.
Dickson-Wright, from Midlothian, and Sir Mark Prescott, of Newmarket, Suffolk, admitted attending two hare-coursing events in north Yorkshire in March 2007.
Neither defendant appeared at Scarborough Magistrates’ Court for the private prosecution, brought by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW).
Dickson-Wright, who found fame in the TV cookery series, Two Fat Ladies, is a former rector of Aberdeen University.
She and Prescott admitted attending one hare-coursing event on March 2, 2007 near Nunnington and another the following day near Amotherby.
Hare-coursing, in which hares are pursued by greyhounds, was banned in 2004. The court heard the events were organised by the Yorkshire Greyhound Field Trialling Club (YGFTC) and saw 46 trials, each involving two dogs chasing hares, over the two days.
John Cooper, prosecuting for the IFAW, said: “The dogs were muzzled but that does not stop the damage and harm to the wildlife they chase and harry.
“It in no way ameliorates the suffering that the hare would feel from the chase and, indeed, simply because the dog has a muzzle around its mouth may mean it can’t bite any quarry it might catch but does not mean it cannot injure that animal.”
Prescott’s agent said he had been invited by the YGFTC, which believed it was running a legal and “above-board” event.
An agent for Dickson-Wright said she had also been invited and thought the event was legal.
Neither defendant had any previous convictions.
District judge Kristina Harrison described the case as “odd” and said she believed the YGFTC had tried to stay within the law when organising the event.
She also believed the event would have been stopped if anyone had told the organisers it was illegal and said the two defendants had “held their hands up” once they were told what they had done was wrong.
She added: “I impose for both of these people an absolute discharge and I do not award costs in all of the circumstances.
“The judgment is not intended to condone hare-coursing, or say that people from this point on can continue hare-coursing and receive an absolute discharge.”
She said anyone convicted of such an offence in the future would be “dealt with most strenuously”.
IFAW prosecutions officer Tania McCrea-Steele said: “These guilty pleas send out a strong message to anyone considering chasing hares with dogs that they will be prosecuted.
“It will also act as a deterrent that anyone engaging in this behaviour will be dealt with most seriously.”