Two hunt employees have denied intentionally hunting a fox.

Derek Hopkins, a huntsman, told a court he was leading a series of trail hunts at the time he was filmed by watchers.

Colleague, terrierman Kevin Allen, said he had laid two of the trails and had also intended to shoot a fox the hunt had come across by accident – which is legal.

Both employees of the Fernie Hunt were found guilty of breaching the Hunting Act and Protection of Badgers Act at a trial in January.

League Against Cruel Sports investigators filmed them apparently chasing a fox and digging it out of a badger sett for it to be chased again, which is illegal under the act.

Hopkins and Allen are appealing against their convictions.

Asked by his lawyer, Philip Mott QC, if he was hunting foxes that day Hopkins said: "No, I was not."

Hopkins said the hounds were chasing an artificial trail, on January 27, 2010.

The court has seen footage of hounds marking a site, where a fox had gone to ground.

Hopkins said he was instructed to take the hounds to one side so the riders could follow a fresh trail that was being laid.

The footage showed a fox bolting, followed by the hounds.

Hopkins said: "I did not see the fox bolt and I did not encourage the hounds. We went to get the hounds to stop and turn away, which they did."

Under cross-examination, Hopkins denied that the call "go on get after him", heard by one of the monitors, was an instruction to hounds.

He said: "The phrase is 'get on to him' and is an instruction a whipper-in would give so that hounds come to me."

Allen said: "We were trail hunting. I laid two trails."

He said he was called in to shoot the fox by the joint master, Chris Parker, and that the hunt had written permission from the landowner to shoot foxes found on his land.

Allen said he examined the holes where the fox had gone to ground and did not believe it was an active badger sett.

He netted two holes so his terrier would force the fox above ground.

Allen said his dog got trapped so he dug it out.

Hunt employees continued digging, to encourage the fox into one of the nets but it bolted.

Allen denied digging out the fox so it could be hunted.

When convicted, Hopkins (46), of Welham Road, Great Bowden, was ordered to pay £2,115 and Allen (52), of Nether Green, Great Bowden, £1,565.