Part-time gamekeeper Timothy Hall, 48, and his son Lewis Hall, 23, of Lamberton Holdings, Berwickshire will appear for sentencing on Monday 15th January 2024 at Jedburgh Sheriff Court after the pair pleaded guilty in December 2023 to numerous offences relating to the illegal laundering of peregrines, which were stolen from the wild and sold on to clients in the Middle East.
This is the culmination of a long-running and complex investigation by Police Scotland and the Scottish SPCA, code named Operation Tantallon, which began with a raid at the Halls’ home in May 2021.
Sentencing will take place following background reports on the pair. I’m expecting the full details of this case will be made available after sentencing.
Also appearing in court tomorrow (Chesterfield Magistrates Court in Derbyshire) is Christopher Wheeldon, 34, of Lime Grove, Darley Dale, Matlock who faces charges relating to the alleged disturbance of a peregrine nest and theft of peregrine eggs at a nest site in Bolsover in April 2023. See here for previous blog on this case.
UPDATE 15 January 2024: Sentencing of part-time gamekeeper & son deferred in international peregrine laundering case (here)
UPDATE 15 January 2024: More detail revealed about international peregrine laundering case in Scotland (here)
UPDATE 16 January 2024: Derbyshire ‘drug addict’ jailed for stealing peregrine eggs (here)
Raptor Persecution UK 
Congratulations to all those agencies who have helped get these two abhorrent low lives to court.
Now let’s hope that they receive suitably hefty fines each and that both endure a while at HM’s pleasure, and not the usual paltry slap on the wrist as is more often the case. And that they are also required to pay back all funds they dishonestly gained from selling on the peregrines to wealthy clients in the Middle East; those monies given to a suitable charity or agency that helps protect raptors.
I’m sure they xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx. Let’s also hope they are stopped from ever being gamekeepers or having gun licences for the remainder of their lives.
don’t call me a low life
xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
Have their bank account/s been examined??? [Ed: rest of comment deleted as libellous]
Sheriff Courts have limited sentencing options. I’m surprised this major case is not being heard in a High Court.
My thoughts too……how did he get export licences…..that surely gets one a prison sentence.Sheriff courts far too lenient.
I shall look forward to hearing that they have received the real punishment that they deserve
There is something about gamekeepers. They seem to animal and wildlife criminals through and through, at every level.
I see it a bit different, not as black and white. But it is a queer thing I have observed first hand in Headkeepers, about being given custody (by the Owners) of huge areas of land and all of the wildlife in it – that does something to their worldview. Some start to think that their little kingdom is the centre of the universe and things like The Law (made elsewhere) are akin to a foreign imposition, unnecessary and more or less optional. Many act like they are Gods put in place to do whatever they personally judge is for the best. And in truth, in a practical sense there has been very little to restrain them historically speaking – only an occasional worry that there may be someone from RSPB snooping about, or some f—–g birdwatcher with binoculars. What happens for good or ill on Estate X is still pretty much down to the moral compass of the keepers involved and/or their appetite for risk.
i’m not a gamekeeper