MAGISTRATES decided not to accept a farmer's guilty plea when he appeared in court yesterday to answer charges of interfering with a badger sett on his land.

Mark Simpson, of Hunter Hill, Seamer, near Middlesbrough, admitted blocking holes leading underground during construction work on a new chicken shed, in March.

However, the Bench, sitting at Richmond, North Yorkshire, were not convinced that the prosecution had done enough to prove the tunnels led to an occupied sett.

They ordered Mr Simpson to plead not guilty at a new hearing, which will be held at a later date.

Craig Beer, mitigating, said representatives from the local Badger Watch group had been regular visitors at Hunters Hill.

Aware the animals were protected, Mr Simpson had cooperated with the organisation in the past, but he accepted that holes had been blocked when the chicken shed was built.

Mr Beer said Mr Simpson had not realised they were entrances to a badger sett. Nevertheless, charges were brought against him after inspections by the RSPCA and Badger Watch team suggested otherwise.

Magistrates ordered a new hearing when it emerged RSPCA inspectors had admitted animal tracks found around the holes may not have been made by badgers.

The court was also told that the Badger Watch examination of the site had been made from a distance.

The prosecution has been asked to provide further evidence to prove there was activity around the sett when the holes were blocked.

A pre-trial review, which will decide if the case will proceed, has been set for November 28