A Teddington man is the first person this year to be fined for allowing his dog to chase the deer in Bushy Park.

Nicholas Higgs, aged 42, was found guilty of the offence, which happened on 24th April shortly before the ban on leads being compulsory during the deer birthing season.

The offence is contrary to S4 (21) of the Royal Parks & Other Open Spaces Regulations 1997.

He was fined £130, ordered to pay Crown Prosecution charges of £85 and a victim surcharge of £34, making a total of £249.

According to the Royal Parks it was the SECOND time he had appeared in court for same offence.

Last May 2021, he appeared at Wimbledon magistrates where the court stated he allowed his whippet to chase several different herds of deer in Bushy Park for over ten minutes with one deer seen to scale a fence to escape.

At that time he was fined £239. It was said both chases were witnessed by police and footage of the incidents was captured on body-worn video cameras.