According to an article written by an RSPB investigator and published in Scottish Bird News by the Scottish Ornithological Society (see link below), in June 2003, RSPB investigators received a tip-off that a peregrine nest site with a history of suspected deliberate interference was likely to be attacked imminently. Shortly afterwards, a 41 year old gamekeeper from the Haystoun Estate, Peebles, was allegedly filmed clambering across to the nest, removing the single peregrine chick, putting it inside a sack and walking off. The police arrived within minutes but the peregrine chick was never found.
The keeper was charged but when the case came to court on 24 March 2004, after two hours of legal argument Sheriff Farrell ruled that the video footage was inadmissable evidence because the RSPB did not have permission to be on the land for the purpose of detecting an offence.
It seems more than a little bit strange that a member of the public can be barred from telling a court about a crime, just because the landowner had not given permission for that person to be there! Surely, it is in any landowner’s interest to have criminals apprehended and dealt with by the courts? All very strange.
The gamekeeper was ultimately fined £300 and had his firearms certificates revoked after police officers found a weapon and ammunition in his unattended Landrover at the time of the incident. http://www.the-soc.org.uk/docs/SBN80.pdf
The keeper later attempted to get his firearms certificates back: http://news.scotsman.com/scotland/Gamekeeper-fined-300-seeks-gun.2567258.jp
Raptor Persecution UK 