In the countryside, trouble often comes on wheels. Serious acts of poaching, hare coursing, badger digging, illegal off-road driving, fly-tipping, farmyard thefts, hunt sabs... In all these cases, motor vehicles of some sort invariably feature.
With the proliferation of smartphones, CCTV and trail cams, you might think that getting a snap of a number plate would be conclusive. But it’s not that simple. For a start, it may be difficult to get a clear photo of said plate. They are sometimes deliberately obscured with mud. And even if you do manage to make out the registration, the plate could be false or stolen. Furthermore, while the authorities are red hot on using registrations to issue parking tickets, they show no such zeal when it comes to pursuing proper bad guys.…