A Tory MSP is linked to two controversial fox hunting groups where members have been accused of illegally killing animals.
Rachael Hamilton, who represents Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, rides with the Lauderdale and Duke of Buccleuch hunts.
Members of both are alleged to have allowed dogs to illegally rip apart foxes, with three people involved in court proceedings.
Hamilton’s husband Billy claims to manage the Lauderdale Hunt, while the couple’s plush Buccleuch Arms Hotel in the Borders is a meeting point for the Buccleuch group.
After their inn won Best Sporting Pub in Scotland in 2015, Rachael said she and Billy were “proactive and supportive of local countryside groups”.
Claire Bellamy, 42, a Facebook friend of Billy, was charged last year after a Lauderdale meeting was filmed by the Sunday Mail and the League Against Cruel Sports (LACS).
It emerged in May that Bellamy had avoided a court appearance after accepting a minor penalty short of prosecution.
LACS were heavily critical of the procurator fiscal’s decision and questioned why the Crown Office wouldn’t say whether a warning or fine had been issued.
Meanwhile, Buccleuch riders Timothy Allen, 40, and Shaun Anderson, 28, were charged in August, again in relation to fox hunting with dogs.
The offence is alleged to have been committed in Roxburghshire and both pled not guilty at Jedburgh Sheriff Court where a trial is due to start on October 8. Hunting foxes with hounds was outlawed in Scotland in 2002.
But there is an exemption that allows the use of hounds to flush out foxes so riders can shoot them as a form of pest control.
An SNP source said: “Rachael Hamilton’s close ties to Scotland’s fox hunting community are no secret but, as more cases of alleged unlawful practices emerge, it’s important her activities are subject to scrutiny.”
Robbie Marsland, of LACS, said: “The league believe fox hunting laws in Scotland are not fit for purpose and need to be strengthened to really ban hunting. We’re working with the Government to bring about these changes.”
The Scottish Conservatives said: “Rachael has never been involved in illegality and will continue supporting events which are hugely popular and important locally.”
Jedforest Hunt members John Richardson, 67, and son Johnny Riley, 24, became the first members of a hunt to be successfully prosecuted in June.
