Charges in badger baiting inquiry

Police investigating alleged badger baiting in Northumberland have charged five men and a teenager.

Several houses in the Tyneside and Northumberland areas were raided following a joint initiative between Northumbria Police and the RSPCA.

The six people, from Cramlington and Wallsend, are charged with conspiracy to hunt wild mammals with dogs between February 2005 and March 2006.

They will face South East Northumberland magistrates in February.

Those charged are: Alan Walton, 51, Brian James Cole, 30, and Lee Lawton, 37, all of Avebury Place, Cramlington; Sean Dilger, 26, from Alderley Way, Cramlington; Wayne Lannen, 23, from Coniston Road, Wallsend; and a 17-year-old youth from the Cramlington area.