AN enclave of villages in northern France where the archaic practice of cockfighting is still permitted has become a magnet for day-tripping British devotees of the illegal bloodsport.

Middle-class professionals are crossing the Channel to the Pas de Calais region to indulge their secret passion for the spectacle of cockerels hacking each other to death with razor-sharp spurs attached to their legs.

French law allows the contests, known as combats de coq, in only a few villages that can prove a long tradition of cockfighting. It is illegal in the rest of the country and practitioners risk a two-year jail sentence.

The cross-Channel traffic of enthusiasts from Britain, where cockfighting has been illegal since 1835, has been uncovered by RSPCA investigators.

Although Britons cannot be prosecuted for attending the fights, they can be charged if found in possession of cockfighting paraphernalia in this country. One man was arrested recently after he was apparently stopped at Folkestone with cockfighting spurs in his car. He is due to stand trial in May.

Mike Butcher, chief inspector of the RSPCA’s special investigations unit, said: “The British cockfighting community is incredibly secretive, much more so than the dog fighters who tend to be easier to penetrate.

“We have discovered that people interested in cockfighting are using the loophole in the French law to get round the fact that cockfighting is illegal here. Cockfights in the Pas de Calais are particularly brutal since they use spurs, which means that nine times out of 10 the birds die.”

The season begins in January and runs until mid-summer. “The British guys take out their birds before the day of the fight or they leave their birds in France and have someone else look after them. They also buy gamefowl out there and bring them back for breeding purposes,” said Alan Fisher, an inspector in the RSPCA unit.

The Sunday Times has tracked down several men who have attended fights. Alistair Prudom, of Donington, Lincolnshire, who keeps cockerels in the grounds of his detached house, admitted travelling to the village of La Bistade last summer to attend a cockfight.

Speaking to an undercover reporter, he said he had to be careful what he said “because I have to look after myself”. He said he had been stopped by the authorities as he returned to Britain. The RSPCA found a number of immature birds in his car but he was allowed to go because he was not in possession of any illegal items.

He told the reporter: “I went and, without wanting to say too much, I came back and got hassled on this side. When I got off the ferry there were people there. It is legal (in the French villages) but they don’t like it here and they will question you when you get back.

“I mean obviously a lot (of Britons) go every year but only a few have got (stopped). But it’s going to be increased.”

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