At the end of January we blogged about a shocking display of arrogance and abuse of position in an attempt to shield raptor killers in the Peak District National Park (see here).
We’d been sent a copy of an email, purportedly written by the then Moorland Association representative in the Peak District, addressed to a senior staff member of the Peak District National Park Authority in June 2010. Here it is again as a reminder:
Obviously, we were interested in how the Peak District Park Authority had responded to this correspondence so we submitted an FoI to find out.
The Peak District National Park Authority has now responded with this:
“We no longer hold information meeting your request“.
You can draw your own conclusions from this.
We’ve written to the Park Authority again to ask when the correspondence was destroyed, and for what reason. Should be interesting.
Raptor Persecution UK 
Para 2 – ‘would first raise any concerns’… – should this apply in the case of an incident which might at the time be thought to be an illegal act?
I can’t imagine any business or organisation that wouldn’t be obliged or feel compelled, in their own interests, to keep correspondence on file for several years – It would have been less contentious to deny that any response had ever been sent – if that had been the case. Clearly they haven’t been able to say that because the recipient is in possession of the response. You have to conclude that it’s in neither’s interest then, because of the content, to recover a copy from the original ?
FOI to police Minister asking for Moorland Ass correspondence.
The penultimate paragraph is an absolute hoot, and clearly demonstrates the culture within the Moorland Association at that time, although it appears in one sense as a plea to deter personal embarrassment. Somehow I suspect little has changed under the new leadership. I’m sure they’re the last organisation RSPB will defer to regarding advice on how to do their job! Yet again the Moorland Association, and their partners and cohorts, are sounding like a network of trade unions for wildlife criminals. Sooner or later bank robbers will be setting up a body to defend their rights to rob banks, and arranging ‘networking’ sessions with police and government departments, with copious amounts of shop-lifted sandwiches and stolen bottles of wine laid on!
I wonder if he did write to Nick Herbert, what he said, what, if anything, Herbert wrote back and whether it would be possible to unearth such correspondence via an FoI.
And if you don’t do as your told, I am going to shop you to the police Minister. He’s an old school chum of mine.
From this attempt at a coverup It would suggest that PDNPA is implicated in raptor persecution in the Very Dark Peak.
In many ways I think it is helpful that we are seeing what many of us have always expected and now organisations like the RSPB can finally accept that this calls for them to get tough. The talking has only allowed the status quo to continue and benefited those wiping out our wildlife. Now, at least we all know where we stand and can react accordingly. Getting this out in the open is a help to our cause so well done to all those that are helping to do that.
We still live in a feudal monarchy, the rich and the privileged and those who own land have been pissing on us for centuries .They stole the land then employed their lawyers to write up laws to legitimise the theft. The whole corrupt establishment structure has for centuries been constructed to look after their interests .We get a few crumbs from the table, just to keep us quiet,and are fed lies in newspapers and TV to keep us fighting among ourselves and blaming other races . What we see here is a small snapshot of this in action and if wasn’t for the diligence of RPUK we would be totally unaware of even this small example of calling in favours.
We are being played as fools and our perfectly legitimate grievances ignored .This is why truly independent investigative journalism like RPUK and many more on line sites (not the servile British Brainwashing Corporation or the red top rags) are so important and so feared by the establishment.
That is a total disgrace: they should be totally accountable for, and retain, all correspondence on controversial / legal issues.
Along with the writings from others here, I can only add that the police do not undertake actions like the described without sufficient information.
They are costly events.
The criminals, they are trying to bring to justice, have to be caught unawares but the vast areas of the shooting estates provide many hiding places for evidence to be stashed away.
So, Richard the implication of your letter is that hiding of vital evidence in the doings of the shooting estates must be complied with. The Old Boys network may be happy with that but the rest of not so. You don’t like people breathing down your neck?
Criminals need to be brought to justice. It is clear from previous criminal cases involving gamekeepers that money and friends in the judiciary, has a lot to do with escaping justice.
Somehow the corruption within this “secret” society must be revealed and dealt with.
Sorry, but steam now vented (for a while)!!!!
Doug
Don’t apologise – we’ve all been there!
In other words it was a lucky break that allowed the release of this email but the shutters have now firmly come down. We can all imagine scenarios to fit which would account for the reply no longer being available!
Ah..these bothersome “technicalities” leading to harassment by the authorities – otherwise known as the Law.
The above e-mail is absolutely disgusting and an attempt to pervert the course of justice. Glenn Brown was rightly found guilty of seven offences off the back of video evidence captured by the RSPB. The raid on his house and his detention were both clearly justified.
Look up “Nick Herbert Hunting” in Youtube, and you’ll see a short film from 1888, sorry 1988, of dear Nick hunting hares with beagles and explaining why “there’s nothing that I want to do more in the afternoon than go out for a day’s hunting”. Such a decent, caring chap, eh?
From Nick Herbert’s Wikipedia entry:- “the director of public affairs at the British Field Sports Society in 1990 and remained in that position for six years, from which he helped to form the Countryside Movement which later became the Countryside Alliance.”
They’re all in it together – old boy’s club!