A Scottish gamekeeper who last month pleaded guilty to bludgeoning to death a trapped Goshawk on a shooting estate in Perthshire, is due to be sentenced tomorrow at Perth Sheriff Court.
Russell Douglas Mason, 49, was filmed covertly by the RSPB, beating a Goshawk to death with a stick after it became trapped inside a Crow cage trap on Cochrage Muir (Moor), believed to be part of the Milton of Drimmie and Strone estate near Blairgowrie, on 12 February 2024.
On the opening day of his trial on 17 March 2026, Mason changed his plea to guilty and also admitted to various firearms offences. Sentencing was deferred for background reports and it emerged Mason had previously been added to the sex offenders register.
So far, the gamebird shooting industry, which unconvincingly claims to have a zero tolerance policy for raptor persecution and immediate expulsion policies for anyone convicted of those crimes, has remained silent about Mason’s guilty plea (see here).
Raptor Persecution UK 