A man employed by the Duke of Beaufort's Hunt is to stand trial charged with an offence under the Hunting Act.

Whipper-in Rhys Matcham denies illegally hunting a wild mammal with dogs while working for the Quorn Hunt in Leicestershire on February 4 last year.

Matcham, 29, of Kennel Drive, Badminton, and John Finnegan, 35, who lives at the premises of the Quorn Hunt in Kirby Bellars, near Melton Mowbray, are both accused of breaching the 2004 Hunting Act.

Both men entered not guilty pleas in October last year and were not required to attend a brief hearing at Leicester Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday.

A district judge ordered both defendants to stand trial on August 24 and 25 at Loughborough Magistrates’ Court.