Two men found guilty of badger baiting in a Pembrokeshire wood are due to be sentenced at Llanelli magistrates court this morning.

Peter McGuigan, 37, and Simon Evans, 40, both from Llandysul, were discovered in the woods at Boncath on October 14th 2006. They had with bloodied shovels, T bars and hunting dogs with them.

The pair were in the vicinity of a badger sett and had dug a metre deep hole. One of their dogs had a badger in its mouth and a loud squealing noise of a badger in distress could be heard.

John Tarrant, prosecuting for the RSPCA, told Llanelli magistrates court that it was a "classic badger digging set up".

Both men denied the charges throughout a week long trial brought to court by the RSPCA, maintaining that they had been hunting rabbits that morning and had accidentally uncovered the badger sett.

The men have been warned that they could face a spell in jail.

"I view these matters extremely seriously and in my view this type of offence should attract a custodial sentence," said district judge Mark Layton after their trial.

The RSPCA said that this was the most significant badger baiting case in over a decade.