THE owner of a lurcher greyhound used his mobile phone to film it chasing a deer and bringing it down near Skipton Woods.

Jordan Edward York, 19, then posted it on Facebook where it was seen by several people, including one who reported it to the estate gamekeeper, Skipton Magistrates' Court heard on Friday.

Nadine Clough, prosecuting, said the dog is seen "coursing" a roe deer and York is heard giving encouragement and praising it after it brings the animal down.

The court was not able to see the film, because of the format, but Miss Clough said she understood the deer had got up and run off undamaged.

York, who admitted hunting a deer with a dog in a field off Brackenley Lane, Embsay, between December 15 and Boxing Day, when the footage was seen, was known to the gamekeeper and had in the past asked permission to hunt rabbits. His request had been turned down and he had since taken his Facebook Page down and given the dog away to a friend.

The court also heard how York had spent £50,000 left to him by a relative in the year since his 18th birthday and that his mother, who lives in Malta, had come over to support him in court.

John Mewies, mitigating, said the only evidence had been what York had "foolishly" recorded himself on his mobile phone and being heard to encourage, rather than discourage, his dog.

He said York had taken the dog out for a walk and was not looking for animals to hunt. He was on a public footpath when a deer had sprung out and the dog - which had not been on a lead - had chased after it.

Mr Mewies said the dog and the deer had collided, resulting in the deer falling to the ground, but that it had got up and run off.

York had chosen to give the dog away because a condition of his bail - ahead of his court appearance - had been to keep the dog on a lead.

Unemployed York had left his previous home in Skipton Road, Embsay, and was now living in Browns Fold, Grassington.

Magistrates fined him £200 and ordered him to pay costs of £85 and a victims surcharge of £20.