ANY huntsman or woman found guilty of breaking the hunt ban laws will avoid a criminal record, police have disclosed.

The news was a fillip for hunt supporters after they failed yesterday to clear the first fence in their legal challenge to the ban in the High Court. An appeal hearing is to take place on February 8 before the country’s most senior judge, Lord Woolf, QC, the Lord Chief Justice.

Lord Justice Kay, sitting with Mr Justice Collins, rejected arguments from the Countryside Alliance and ruled that the hunting ban was lawful because the Parliament Act 1949 used to force through the ban was valid.

In guidance to police forces Nigel Yeo, the assistant chief constable of Sussex, on behalf of the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) public order working group, states that offences under the hunting Act carry a fine of up to £5,000 but: “They are not recordable or notifiable under the national crime recording standards and I am also advised by Home Office lawyers that persons convicted of offences under the Hunting Act will not secure a criminal record.”

The Times has reported before that many senior officers are worried about the difficulties of policing a ban. Forces are reminded that the Hunting Act “confers power to arrest, not a duty” and are told that as far as hunting is concerned the main responsibility for the police is “the prevention of harm to all people involved”.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs questioned Mr Yeo’s interpretation “There will be a criminal record but it won’t be a recordable offence,” a spokeswoman said. “It won’t be on the police national computer and so police will not automatically know who has committed an offence. But people will have to declare it on appplications for jobs and firearms offences.”

She said that the Government would have laws in place to make it a recordable offence by next autumn.

Anti-hunt campaigners were incredulous that after fighting for so long for laws to end the cruelty of hunting that offenders might not even get a criminal record. The RSPCA and the League Against Cruel Sports are to raise the matter with ministers and police chiefs.

Alun Michael, the Rural Affairs Minister, has said frequently that anyone convicted of flouting the ban might lose his or her firearms licence and might face difficulties with their employer or in obtaining insurance.

Mr Yeo’s guidance also makes clear that the priority of policing a ban should be made locally and depend on the impact on the local community. He states: “The investigation of offences and the apprehension of offenders is a lower priority ordinarily than the maintenance of order and safety.”

Mr Yeo has sent out what he calls tactical considerations for the police on February 18. He suggests that hunts should be given a warning if police believe that they are involved in illegal hunting. “It may be felt reasonable and proportionate to warn hunts which we believe to be acting unlawfully, rather than to seek to expend the effort in securing a prosecution.”

Forces are also told that anti-hunt campaigners or anyone who interfered with legal hunting might be dealt with under offences of aggravated trespass.

John Rolls, director of animal welfare promotion at the RSPCA, said: “I shall be making very strong representations to ministers and police chiefs. We have not gone through this long battle including High Court action to have people getting off without a criminal records. If people are guilty of cruelty to animals they should be prosecuted and they should have a criminal record.”

He had not seen the Acpo advice but said that the RSPCA would monitor enforcement of the laws. “We expect police to act on hunting in the same way as any other crime,” he said.

Douglas Batchelor, chief executive of the League Against Cruel Sports, said he was astonished by Mr Yeo’s guidance. “It will no doubt come as a surprise to many that criminal statistics do not include all criminal offences. I am very surprised by it and I don’t know how they can even monitor the implementation of the Act if they are not even keeping a record of these offences.”

The Court of Appeal judgment is not scheduled until February 14. It is possible that the alliance will ask for an interim relief order delaying a ban while they pursue their action in the House of Lords.

Simon Hart, chief executive of the alliance, said his message to hunters was defiant: “Keep hunting, keep fighting.”

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