On July 1st this year, Environment Minister Paul Wheelhouse set out his proposed ‘further measures’ to tackle the continuing problem of illegal raptor persecution (see here).
In response to his announcement, on July 2nd we asked him (see here) for clarification on some of these ‘further measures’ and also for updates on some previously promised measures, including prosecutions under the new vicarious liability legislation.
On August 4th we blogged about the Minister’s responses to our questions (see here).
One of the questions we’d asked him was this:
Question 3:
Please can you advise whether there will be a prosecution under the new vicarious liability legislation following the recent conviction of gamekeeper Peter Bell, found guilty of poisoning offences on the Glasserton and Physgill Estates? If you don’t know the answer (which would be surprising, given that you said in March 2013 that you would be “keeping an eye on this particular area [i.e. vicarious liability] with interest”, please can you provide the contact details of someone who can answer the question?
The Minister’s response was this:
It would be inappropriate to comment further on this case as police enquiries have not yet concluded.
At the time we said we weren’t too impressed with this response, seeing as though 8 months had already elapsed since the original crimes were committed (in December 2012). However, as this was the first time a potential prosecution had been considered under the new legislation, we didn’t have a benchmark for how long these cases might take. We also said we would ask, periodically, for updates on this case so that it couldn’t be quietly swept under the carpet.
It’s now October, ten months after the original crimes were committed, and there’s still no official word. We thought it was time to ask the Minister for another update.
Dear Paul Wheelhouse,
Please could you provide an update on whether there will be a prosecution under the new vicarious liability legislation following the recent conviction of gamekeeper Peter Bell, found guilty of poisoning offences on the Glasserton and Physgill Estates?
Thanks.
Emails to: ministerforenvironment@scotland.gsi.gov.uk
Raptor Persecution UK 
Can pretty much guess his answer.
‘It is not up to me, it is a decision of the Procurator Fiscal’ and thus wash his hands.
My biased opinion is that he is just waiting for a promotion.
He’d be correct to say it wasn’t his decision – it is indeed a decision for COPFS. However, he will undoubtedly have been kept updated on the progress (or not) of this case, especially given his interest in this topic, so all we’re asking for is that we be kept updated too. Not too much to ask for given the public interest…
Keep at it guys, keep at it…persistence works wonders in politics…it occurs to me that it might be a good idea for raptorpersecutionscotland to send a Heads Up letter to our new Chief Constable for the country, Mr House?..to make him aware that there are forces at work in Scotland who are preventing his officers from even handed policing in the area of estate based crime…unless he already knows all that of course…
I duly sent an e-mail to Mr Wheelhouse about the update on whether or not there would be a prosecution under the vicarious liability following Mr Bells conviction. I’m apparently not allowed to post the reply anywhere but was told Mr Wheelhouse is unable to enter into discussion about such matters and I was pointed in the direction of The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service for any information I might want.