Last week 51-year old Dylan Boyle was found guilty at Kirkaldy Sheriff Court in connection with the digging and blocking of an active badger sett during an outing with the Fife Fox Hunt in January 2023 (see Police Scotland press statement here, where the police describe Boyle’s actions as “reckless and deplorable“).
This is an interesting case, not just because Boyle is reportedly an ex-gamekeeper but because part of his (unsuccessful) defence was apparently based upon testimony from an expert witness who just happens to be the ‘chief’ of the Scottish Gamekeepers Association’s (SGA) ‘training centre’.
Why is that important? Well, because the SGA is positioning itself to provide the mandatory training courses as required by those operating grouse moor licences under the new Wildlife Management & Muirburn (Scotland) Act 2024.
I’ll come back to that. First, here’s some more important background information about the case, as provided in a press release by the League Against Cruel Sports (Scotland) –
Man found guilty on two charges for wildlife crimes
- Charge 1, digging a badger sett. Contrary to the Protection of Badgers Act 1992.
- Charge 2, blocking a badger sett. Contrary to the Protection of Badgers Act 1992.
A former terrier man with the Berwickshire and Fife Fox Hunts, Dylan Boyle, has been found guilty on two charges related to the destruction of a badger sett, by digging into an active badger sett and deliberately blocking entrances to the sett with rocks, nets and earth using a spade. The conviction was supported by covert film evidence captured by the animal charity, League Against Cruel Sports.
Dylan Boyle, aged 52, a transport officer who lives in Avonbridge, pled not guilty at a three-day trial which concluded on Friday 13th September 2024 at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court.
Sentencing was deferred until the 13th of March 2025, but potential penalties for interfering with a badger sett include a maximum of 12 months imprisonment and / or a £40,000 fine.
The incident, which took place in January 2023 near Cupar, was witnessed and filmed by a Field Research and Investigations Officer for the League Against Cruel Sports who was monitoring the activities of the Fife Fox Hunt, which the terrier man was operating alongside at the time.
During the three-day trial the court was shown video footage of Boyle digging a badger sett. The League Against Cruel Sports investigator also gave verbal evidence relating to the blocking of the badger sett entrances.
On the second day of the trial three other charges were dropped. Two of these related to the treatment of a fox, in which it had been alleged Boyle had pulled a fox out from underground, shot it twice and encouraged his dog to attack and bite at the fox.
The third charge to be dropped was the entering of a dog into an active badger sett, a serious offence concerning the welfare of the protected badgers as well as the dog. According to the Sheriff, the evidence that was presented in court by the Fiscal Prosecutions Officer was not sufficient to bring about a conviction on this occasion. During the final day’s trial, Boyle admitted entering his dog underground.
Sheriff Mark Alan found Boyle guilty on the charges of digging a badger sett and blocking a badger sett, both contrary to the Protection of Badgers Act 1992.
The Sheriff, in summing up, commented that he was very satisfied with the evidence given by the experts from the League Against Cruel Sports, stating that he was “satisfied that Boyle knowingly dug and blocked an active badger sett with disregard to the welfare of the badgers”.
The Sheriff also stated that if Boyle is caught committing further crimes between now and his sentencing in March 2025, then he could be facing jail time.
Robbie Marsland, Director of Scotland and Northern Ireland for League Against Cruel Sports, welcomed the guilty verdict and said:
“I’m very pleased that the League Against Cruel Sports’ vigilant fieldworkers were able to provide Police Scotland with video evidence that led to this successful conviction.
“Crimes against wildlife are all too common in Scotland and I hope this case will serve to remind people like Mr Boyle that our cameras can be anywhere.”
ENDS
The League Against Cruel Sports has published its video footage of the crime scene which provides an insight of Boyle’s offences:
As mentioned above, it’s reported that the defence called Alan Tweedie as an expert witness to defend Boyle’s actions. Alan Tweedie is the SGA’s Training Centre ‘chief’ (here).
According to a member of the public who attended the trial, Tweedie told the court he was an ex-gamekeeper and is now self-employed and works for the SGA providing training courses for gamekeepers.
Tweedie was asked whether he had seen the video evidence, and he told the court that he had. He was asked whether he’d seen anything in the video footage that he thought was wrong and Tweedie reportedly told the court that he saw nothing wrong in Boyle’s actions.
Given Boyle’s subsequent convictions, based on the League’s video evidence, it’s of significant concern that Alan Tweedie didn’t spot the wildlife crime offences described by Police Scotland as “reckless and deplorable”.
If this is the view of the SGA’s ‘training centre chief’ what confidence can be placed in the SGA’s ability to provide suitable training that would meet the requirements of the Wildlife Management & Muirburn (Scotland) Act 2024?
I should say here that I’m far as I’m aware, it hasn’t yet been decided who will provide the training requirements brought in under the new legislation. I understand that NatureScot has been consulting with a number of organisations (including animal welfare and conservation groups) about its proposed plans but that these discussions have so far mostly focused on the training content rather than who will deliver it. Although if you look on the SGA’s website, the SGA is quite clearly positioning itself to deliver the training elements associated with corvid and spring trap use (see here).
One to watch.
UPDATE 17.00hrs: There’s more commentary on the trial written by Jamie McKenzie in an article posted on 18 September in The Courier, although it sits behind a paywall. Here are the interesting bits:
Former gamekeeper Dylan Boyle, 51, was filmed by investigators from the League Against Cruel Sports (LACS) at a farm at Letham, near Cupar, on January 10 last year.
During a trial at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court he had denied two charges of interfering with a badger sett by digging and damaging it and obstructing access by blocking an entrance with rocks.
Boyle, of Avonbridge near Falkirk, told the trial he had been there with a terrier dog to control foxes that day.
He insisted it was not an active badger sett and he only saw fox holes.
The trial heard an ecologist and police officer went to the site the next day and found tell-tale signs of an active badger sett, as had an LACS investigator on the day of the offence.
The court heard key indicators included D-shaped entrance holes – fox holes are more oval-shaped – and badger hair, scratch marks, bedding material and latrines.
Prosecutor Gerard Drugan put to Boyle he was suggesting experts were wrong about the presence of badger holes, to which the accused replied: “That could have happened the night before – they (experts) were there the following day.”
Mr Drugan said: “Your position is that somehow, overnight, badgers moved into the locus and reshaped the holes?”
Boyle replied: “Yes.”
The fiscal depute said: “But (the LACS investigator) saw they were badger holes?”
Boyle, who said he had studied gamekeeping and wildlife management at college, said: “He could be wrong.”
The fiscal said: “People who have spent a long time being involved with badgers are wrong?
“(The LACS investigator) was wrong,” Boyle responded.
Sheriff Mark Allan said he was satisfied it was an active badger sett on the key date and found Boyle guilty of two charges in contravention of the Protection of Badgers Act 1992.
The sheriff told Boyle: “I am satisfied you both dug the badger sett and obstructed the sett and did so with reckless disregard as to the consequences of your actions.”
Making reference to Boyle’s own background, education and knowledge, the sheriff said: “You should take care, you should not show reckless disregard for what it was you were doing on that particular occasion.
“You require to be careful and ensure what you are not doing is interfering with a badger sett.”
Sentence was deferred for six months, until March 13, for Boyle to be of good behaviour.
ENDS
UPDATE 18 March 2025: Former Scottish gamekeeper receives pathetic sentence for digging Badger sett (here)
Raptor Persecution UK 
Why anyone who knows anything about these XXXXX XXXXX is surprised at the attitude of this “trainer” of gamekeepers is beyond me after all XXXXX XXXXX killing wild animals is the main part of the job the only rule this thug broke was getting caught so he will now get a slap ont wrist
SGA are just dinosaurs in tweed. Let’s hope the new legislation curbs their excesses on the grouse moors.
Ah, terriermen! The lowest of the low. Not only do you have to do the “gentries”, bidding you also have to grovel to them in the hope they will throw you a bone. Utter scum!
Would someone know whether the cross-section of a burrow is a result of the digging process, and not altered subsequently? Thinking broad-shouldered badgers here with wide claws on front paws, and assuming foxes dig as dogs do, front paws closer together.
Well done LACS and good on the Sheriff – he clearly recognised that the bloke didn’t really give a f–k.
The wider question about who should train people how to kill stuff within the law is a difficult one. It’s not hard to show a keen youngster how to use the tools of the trade and the legal technical specs of traps, etc is not rocket science. SGA can do that. But to impart the values of the cautionary approach, moderation and empathy is probably beyond them. And anyway, for keepers whose career success will be measured principly by the numbers of grouse they produce for the boss and not by the numbers of Red Squirrels & Wheatears, etc that they have avoided catching in their traps – will they really want to listen?
It’ll be interesting to see what sentence this person receives. I suspect he’ll get away with a slap on the wrist e.g. a fine of a few hundred pounds and a suspended sentence (no punishment as he’d have to commit the same offence to actually serve the sentence).
There’s no point in the law giving maximum sentences that might actually be a deterrent if these aren’t used. Maybe the law should state a minimum sentence, similar to the current maximum, for all offences.
“Maybe the law should state a minimum sentence, similar to the current maximum, for all offences”
It already does.
See https://www.scottishsentencingcouncil.org.uk/sentencing-guidelines/about-sentencing-guidelines