Last December, Andrew Hutchison, a 67 year old pigeon-fancier from Newmills, Fife, was found guilty of maliciously shooting and killing a working falcon (called ‘Naph’, who was employed as a pigeon-scarer at Holyrood) with a .22 rifle. He was also found guilty of removing the bird’s body from his garden, separating it from its radio transmitter, and dumping the bird’s body and the transmitter with intent to defeat the ends of justice. During the trial, Hutchison had accused some falconers (who had been looking for Naph and had tracked his signal to Hutchison’s garden) of lying. “They’re all telling lies. It’s a witches’ coven“!! (see here for article in The Scotsman).
Today, Hutchison was finally sentenced at Dunfermline Sheriff Court. He was fined £350 and was also ordered to pay £1,500 to Naph’s owners, towards the cost of buying and training a replacement falcon for their pest control business.
After sentencing, Hutchison was reported to have said: “I’m a pensioner. The fine and compensation is going to cripple me“.
BBC News article here
STV article here
Raptor Persecution UK 
What about his firearms licence? A Firearm (not shotgun) Certificate is conditioned for use according to the ‘good reason’ given for possession. A Firearms Certificate would not be conditioned for shooting protected birds of prey. Non compliance with the conditions imposed upon a Firearms Certificate is punishable by a maximum of 6 months custodial sentence.
Now that I Have read the Scotsman article, I note that the rifle was not a firearm as suggested in the news item above but an air weapon not subject to Firearms Licensing. Sorry.