POLICE and prosecutors will decide next week whether to take action against a Cotswold hunt accused of breaching the anti-hunting laws.

The Heythrop Hunt has denied accusations by anti-hunting campaigners who claimed foxes had been killed during its hunts.

Detectives and officials from the Crown Prosecution Service are to meet and Det Con Chris Edgell said that so far no decision had been taken about whether to investigate further complaints against the hunt.

Previous investigations over the past few months had not resulted in any arrests, he said.

"A decision will be taken about taking this matter further and if this happens we may interview a number of people in connection with the allegations."

Heythrop joint master, Liz Wills, insisted the Heythrop only undertakes trail hunting, in which a fox-based scent is laid across countryside for the hunt's dog pack to follow.

She explained that only the person laying the trail knows where it leads, the huntsmen and women do not, and so have no way of knowing if their pack has veered off to follow the scent of a real fox that crossed the trail.

She said the hunt's outriders usually stop the pack if they see a fox but sometimes are unable to stop the hounds before the dogs make a kill.

She added: "Accidents do happen.

"I speak to the police a lot about it and we keep them informed.

"We do try to do everything within the law."

Penny Little, of the Protect Our Wild Animals (POWA) anti-hunting group, labelled this explanation as "nonsense".

She said: "Foxes are not on a suicide mission.

"They are not kamikaze creatures who throw themselves into the path of the hounds."

Gill Purser, who ran the Cotswold Support Group for the Abolition of Hunting before hunting became illegal in 2005, said: "They have had three years to re-train the packs.

"The dogs are not usually kept over the age of four or five, so they have a pack that should be used to following a trail."

Ms Little also claimed someone could be seriously hurt because of the aggressive way Heythrop members and supporters obstruct anti-hunt monitors who follow and film hunts.

She said: "Two monitors have been injured during the current investigation. I've had cars swerve at me. What would happen if they failed to stop in time?

"If they have nothing to hide, what's all this about?"

Liz Wills shared these concerns but added there were never problems when the monitors were not present.

She said: "There's no reason for them to be filming just members of our hunt all the time, it's extremely intrusive.

"I try to keep our followers from obstructing the monitors but I'm afraid they get very frustrated by this constant attention."