FOX-HUNTERS in Worcestershire say they will be out with hounds the day after the hunt ban comes into force to show the Government they "will not go away".

Peter Swann, master of the Albrighton Woodland Hunt, near Kidderminster, said they would be out - with dogs - on Saturday, February 19.

This is despite a High Court decision on Friday, which overruled a Countryside Alliance challenge to the legitimacy of the Hunting Act, which comes into force on Friday, February 18.

The Alliance believes the Government's use of the Parliament Act to force the legislation through parliament was illegal.

Its attempt to prove this at the High Court failed last week but on Tuesday, February 8, it intends to appeal against the overruling before the country's most senior Judge, Lord Chief Justice, Lord Woolf, QC.

A successful appeal would mean hunting with dogs could continue legally.

"We will carry on up to the date, and like every other hunt around the country, we are going to meet on the 19th," said Mr Swann.

"At the moment we are finalising our interpretation of the Act and how we can carry on afterwards.

"People are going to follow their consciences regarding how they see this piece of legislation," he added.

Over the weekend, the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) said huntsmen and woman would not get a criminal record if they flouted the new law.

But the promise from their spokesman, Nigel Yeo, the assistant chief constable of Sussex, ACPO, was later refuted by the Government.