Legal Eagle 45
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LEGAL EAGLE THE RSPB’S INVESTIGATIONS NEWSLETTER JUNE 2005 No 45 Chris Gomersall (rspb-images.com) Gamekeepers club buzzard to death Mark Thomas (RSPB) Tw o gamekeepers have been found obligation to check active traps once guilty of the intentional killing of a every 24 hours and to release any buzzard and possession of its body. non-target species. The RSPB provided the investigation with crucial video The following morning, a Landrover footage, which captured one of the arrived at the trap and two pair beating the buzzard to death gamekeepers got out. Michael Clare, with a stick while the other looked of Cookshall Farm, West Wycombe, on. Both received a fine of £2,000. entered the trap armed with a piece Michael Clare and Leslie Morris of wood and beat the buzzard to caught on video. On the afternoon of Sunday 22 death, while the head keeper Leslie February 2004, a local birdwatcher Morris, also of Cookshall Farm, West the discovery of another active crow discovered a crow cage trap Wycombe, looked on. The body was trap holding two live kestrels, which containing a live common buzzard taken away in their vehicle. were subsequently released. Blood on land managed as the Bradenham droplets in the original trap were Hill pheasant shoot on the With video evidence of these submitted to the Central Science Dashwood Estate at West Wycombe, events, the RSPB alerted Thames Laboratory for DNA testing and Buckinghamshire. The bird was Valley Police Wildlife Crime Officer identified as coming from a buzzard. reported to the RSPB. Under the PC Paul Beecroft. A police search of terms of the defra General Licence, the estate failed to produce the A six-day trial began at High operators of these traps have a legal body of the buzzard but did lead to Wycombe Magistrates Court on continued overleaf... In this issue: Ten-week jail term for Norfolk egg thief £7,500-plus fine for company that damaged moorland continued from page 1 Mark Thomas (RSPB) strongly countered by the evidence its body. He ruled that the buzzard Chris Gomersall (rspb-images.com) of several prosecution witnesses was not injured and Clare had given who all said the buzzard was healthy the buzzard the most cursory of and alert both on the Sunday and looks and then immediately killed it. early on the morning of the killing. He also ruled that Morris, as Clare’s boss, had directed Clare’s actions Describing the clubbing of the and looked in his direction while he buzzard, veterinary surgeon was beating the bird. Morris had Stephen Cook said ‘The method of claimed he only found out about dispatch was botched and the incident when Clare returned to The crow cage trap. inhumane’. In complete contrast, the the vehicle carrying the dead bird. defence veterinary expert, Neil The judge branded their evidence 14 March 2005. Both keepers faced Forbes, said: ‘The bird was ‘so inconsistent’. charges under the Wildlife and dispatched quickly and proficiently’. Countryside Act 1981 of intentionally These arguments proved irrelevant The men were each fined £2,000 killing the buzzard and possessing as District Judge English reluctantly for killing the bird and ordered to its body, and under the Protection of dismissed the charge of cruelly ill- pay £500 costs. No extra penalty Animals Act 1911 of cruelly ill- treating the bird based on case law was given for possession of the treating the bird. from a higher court in respect of the dead bird. definition of ‘being in captivity’. The defence claimed the buzzard The RSPB wishes to give special had a badly broken leg and Clare On 21 April 2005, District Judge thanks in this case to PC Paul had simply taken action to English found both defendants Beecroft, CPS lawyer Carl Barker euthanase the bird and had then guilty of intentionally killing the and prosecution barristers Richard hidden it on the estate. This was buzzard and being in possession of Singer and Susan Drummond. PROSECUTIONS Ten-week jail term for Norfolk egg thief Peregrine with chicks at nest. On 9 November 2004, 3,603 wild birds’ eggs were In the collection, the RSPB found 200 Schedule 1 eggs discovered in a Norfolk mobile home. including 24 little tern eggs, as well as, alarmingly, 89 nightjar and 166 nightingale eggs. Documentary Under a Wildlife and Countryside Act search warrant, evidence suggested that Lingham had been extremely Falconer falls for peregrines Wildlife Crime Officers from Norfolk Constabulary active in East Anglia and, in the last five years, had assisted by RSPB investigations officers, searched persistently targeted nightjars and nightingales. Both A young man with a broken leg, found in a quarry, A file was prepared and the quarry staff provided Newton Van Park, Fairholme Road, Newton St Faiths, species have suffered significant population declines in was trying to rob a peregrine nest, Worksop Youth statements and aerial photographs. The young man Norwich, the home of Daniel Lingham. Most of the eggs the last 25 years. Court heard. subsequently pleaded guilty at Worksop Youth Court to were found hidden in secret compartments. attempting to take the chicks or eggs of a peregrine. The When interviewed, he confessed to having taken a large The 16-year-old youth from Worksop was found in a court considered it a serious offence and asked for a pre- number of the eggs in the collection over the previous 30 quarry in Derbyshire in May 2004. After he was taken to sentence report, following which, on 12 April 2005, he years, including all the nightjar and nightingale eggs from hospital, a rope was found hanging down the quarry received a 100-hour Community Punishment Order. sites within East Anglia. Norfolk Wildlife Trust testified face directly over a peregrine nest ledge containing three that, at one of their reserves that Lingham had targeted, young chicks. Fortunately, these birds later successfully This is the second incident in this area, as in 2003 an numbers of breeding nightingales had fallen steeply fledged from the site. attempt was made to take three goshawk chicks from a despite the Trust’s active management to help them. nest site. The RSPB believes these sorts of incidents Mark Thomas (RSPB) The young man was arrested and interviewed by highlight the continuing demand for these bird species At Norwich Magistrates Court on 23 March, Lingham Nottinghamshire Wildlife Crime Officer PC Douglas Kent, for use in falconry; we urge the government to retain pleaded guilty to seven charges under the Wildlife and with the assistance of the RSPB. When interviewed, he them on Schedule 4 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act Countryside Act 1981 and, despite having no previous gave contradicting accounts of how he sustained his 1981 to give them maximum protection. convictions, was sentenced to 10 weeks’ imprisonment, injuries and denied any involvement in trying to take reflecting the regional seriousness of his crimes. peregrine chicks or eggs from the site. It was established The RSPB would like to thank Wildlife Crime Officer Some of the nightingale eggs seized. he was a practising falconer, and information gathered PC Kent, Anna-Marie Pierrepont of the Nottinghamshire The RSPB wishes to thank DC Jerry Simpson, Sgt Alan by the RSPCA while investigating another matter CPS and staff from Lafarge Aggregates Ltd for their roles Roberts and PC Jon Hopes for their efforts on this case. indicated that he also had an interest in egg collecting. in bringing this prosecution. 2 3 PROSECUTIONS R oger Wilmshurst (rspb-images.com) Unsafe pesticide store in North Wales Quarry company fined Police cautioned the head keeper on a pheasant shooting estate in North Wales over the storage of pesticides. When the police searched the estate in August 2004, helped by the National Assembly for Wales and the RSPB, they found a work shed being used to store a number of pesticides. These included an unapproved brand of Cymag, a very toxic fumigant, and several herbicides. The storage conditions were very poor with products stored Great crested newt. without appropriate signage and in association with flammable items and with foodstuffs. £1,000 fine for The head keeper was later interviewed and it became apparent that he had little understanding of the newt disturbance requirements in relation to the safe use and storage of pesticides. In March 2005, he accepted a caution from Barry Hughes (rspb-images.com) Barry A man who recklessly disturbed great crested newts the North Wales police for storing unapproved Cymag, was fined £1,000 and ordered to pay £500 costs in March and for storage of other pesticides without proper regard 2005. Despite advice from English Nature, Peter Dennis for the safety of humans and wildlife. of Spennymoor, County Durham went ahead and cleared a pond of weeds on land that he was developing. He This incident highlights yet another example where knew that this would harm any newts in the pond at this sporting estates are failing to manage pesticides safely time. Mr Dennis admitted that he removed the weed and and the RSPB would encourage the police and other then did not check it after removal. When the police statutory agencies to take more action in relation to investigated, they found newts had been killed and pesticide matters. It should be noted that, since the end others trapped in the removed weed. of 2004, no brand of Cymag can be stored or used. Faccombe Estates damage SSSI Sand martin nest. A commercial shooting company was fined £7,500 and constructing 620 metres of three metre-wide stone track Action by a birdwatcher led to the prosecution of a during early June active sand martin nests would almost ordered to pay £6,787 costs after pleading guilty to across the moorland without English Nature’s (EN’s) quarrying company that destroyed 26 sand martin nests.