A CAERPHILLY man has been convicted for badger baiting after being caught using dogs on an illegal hunt.

Thomas Young, 26, of Newbridge, was sentenced to 20 weeks in custody, suspended for 12 months and will be subject to a curfew between 9pm and 6am.

Christian Latcham, 32, of Porth, Rhonda, Cyle Jones, 31, of Brecon, Powys and Jamie Rush, 27, also of Brecon, Powys were also found guilty of badger baiting at Cardiff Crown Court.

All four were caught by an undercover journalist working for BBC Wales.

The four men loaded a pick-up van with shovels and dogs to go to a "pre-arranged" location to dig for badgers in the countryside.

Prosecutor Jon Tarrant said: "They were attempting to take a badger."

The group did not know they had been joined by the undercover investigator - known as John.

Giving evidence, a BBC researcher said Mr Young introduced him to three other men before they set off on the hunt on March 24 last year.

He said: "The discussions were that Thomas, Christian and two other individuals were going to West Wales to a pre-designated location and that they were going to be digging for badgers."

He added that the men met at Mr Latcham's House where he had a garage transformed into “kennels” - with cages and dogs.

They then set off from the Rhondda Valleys, South Wales, to Llanddewi Velfrey in Pembrokeshire.

The undercover investigator said the men discussed that they would "dig for billies/badgers" on the journey.

He said when the men arrived at a field they donned "wellies and country wear" and put collars on the dogs to track their whereabouts.

He said: "They explained to me what would happen when they put the dogs down into the tubes, as they called it. Into the set.

"They explained about monitoring the dog in the ground."

The court heard that when the dog stopped underground the men began to dig.

He added: "When it stopped I was told that was when we would dig down.

"When we dug down there wasn't anything with that dog.

"We repeated this cycle for a number of hours."

The court heard that larger dogs were brought to the holes "in readiness" to attack the badgers.

One hole was so deep that Mr Latcham's head could not be seen above the ground as he stood in it.

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Mr Young, Mr Latcham, Mr Jones and Mr Rush all denied attempting to kill, injure or take a badger.

Mr Latcham was jailed for 26 weeks, Mr Jones and Mr Rush for 22 weeks.

Mr Latcham has 12 previous convictions for 24 offences, including for causing unnecessary suffering to an animal.

Mr Jones has 13 previous convictions for 18 offences, including animal cruelty. Rush has eight previous convictions for nine offences and has previously been sentenced to two years in prison.

Only one of the defendents - Mr Rush - gave evidence during the four day trial in front of District Judge Neil Thomas.

Judge Thomas said: "I have no difficulty coming to the unreserved conclusion, that he was not telling the truth."