CELEBRITY chef Clarissa Dickson Wright and racehorse trainer Sir Mark Prescott are to face charges relating to alleged hare coursing, it was confirmed today.

Officials at Scarborough Magistrates Court in North Yorkshire confirmed the pair were facing a private prosecution by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW).

The papers have been lodged with the court and Dickson Wright and Sir Mark are each due to answer a summons at the court on November 9.

They each face allegations of hunting hares with dogs at two events near Malton, North Yorkshire, in March.

One was at the village of Nunnington and the other at nearby Amotherby.

They also face charges of attending these events.

Dickson Wright, 60, is a former barrister who shot to fame on the BBC food show Two Fat Ladies.

Land-owning baronet Sir Mark, 59, has trained more than 1,200 winners at his yard in Newmarket.

This private prosecution is separate from another alleged hare coursing case which is due to be heard at Scarborough Magistrates Court involving Peter Easterby, another racehorse trainer.

Easterby, of Great Habton, North Yorkshire, is charged with allowing his land to be used for hare coursing and attending hare coursing.

This case, which is brought by the Crown Prosecution Service, also involves four other defendants.

They are all on bail and due before Scarborough Magistrates again on November 19.

Hare coursing was outlawed at the same time as fox hunting with hounds.