Category: News

Glen Orchy case concludes: call this justice?

So, three years and three months later, the infamous Glen Orchy case has concluded. Tom McKellar, previously described as a gamekeeper but curiously now described as a farmer, has been fined £1,200 for possessing the banned pesticide, Carbofuran.

The Crown Office press release (here – NB, link no longer works, copy of press release at foot of blog) doesn’t mention anything of the poisoned golden eagle that was found in Glen Orchy and prompted the search of McKellar’s house, which led to the discovery of the Carbofuran. Although it does mention how he was previously given a 300-hour community service order for the possession of illegal handguns (instead of the mandatory five-year prison sentence), also found during the search of his house.

Of course, McKellar wasn’t charged with laying poisoned baits (even though he reportedly admitted to doing so during an interview), and nor was he charged with poisoning that golden eagle, because even though he had this rare, banned poison in his house, and lived just down the road from where the dead eagle had been found, and he’d previously admitted to laying out poisoned baits, there apparently wasn’t enough evidence to link him to the poisoned eagle.

But this story doesn’t end there. There are other things that went on (or more to the point, didn’t go on) in this investigation and we’ll be discussing those in due course, including the failure to charge a second person….

Meanwhile, we’ll add this poisoned golden eagle to the growing list of illegally-killed eagles for which nobody has ever been (nor will be) prosecuted. Justice?

RSPB press statement here (NB: link no longer available, copy of RSPB statement at foot of blog)

UPDATE 11 Sept 2012: Glen Orchy, a hollow victory (here)

Previous blogs on this case here, here, here, here, here,here here, here

COPY OF CROWN OFFICE PRESS RELEASE:

7 September 2012

FARMER FINED £1,200 FOR POSSESSING BANNED SUBSTANCE

An Argyll farmer was today fined for possessing the banned substance carbofuran.

Tom McKellar, 50, from Bridge of Orchy, Argyll, pled guilty on 18 April at Oban Sheriff Court. Today he was fined £1,200 for the offence.

Carbofuran is a highly toxic pesticide and a single grain the size of a poppy seed can kill a bird.  A quarter of a teaspoonful can be fatal to humans.

Following a search of his property by police on 17 June 2009, McKellar was found to have quantities of Carbofuran in three separate containers and traces of it within a syringe.  When interviewed by police, he indicated that he had, in the past, placed it on meat for foxes to eat.

Craig Harris, Head of the Wildlife and Environmental Crime Unit (WECU) at COPFS, said:

“Carbofuran is an extremely toxic pesticide and even the tiniest amounts can be fatal to our wildlife.

“Possession of carbofuran is illegal and those who unlawfully retain stocks can expect to be brought before the court.

“This conviction and sentence should serve as a warning to anyone who thinks about keeping this substance.

“We remain committed to ensuring carbofuran is removed from the countryside and we will continue to work with our PAW partners to find the best way to achieve this.”

Notes to Editors

Tom McKellar pled guilty at Oban Sheriff Court on 18 April 2012 to possessing Carbofuran, an unauthorised pesticide, under section 15A of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.

McKellar previously pled guilty at the High Court in Glasgow on 5 November 2010 to four charges relating to the illegal possession of a Webley revolver and a Browning pistol, recovered during police enquiries on 17 June 2009.  On 3 December 2010 he was sentenced to a Community Service Order of 300 hours.

Products containing Carbofuran as an active ingredient were formerly used in the U.K. as insecticides to control agricultural pests in crops.  Their use was restricted to farmers or contractors providing services to farmers for drilling into the ground.  Approval for the use of Carbofuran was withdrawn in 2001 and its possession is now illegal in terms of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, Section 15A and the Possession of Pesticides (Scotland) Order 2005/66, Article 2 and Schedule 1.

Carbofuran is one of the most toxic pesticides.  In the granular form a single grain the size of a poppy seed can kill a bird.  A quarter teaspoon (1 millilitre) can be fatal to humans.

Carbofuran poisoning has been identified as the cause of death in over 240 incidents submitted to the WIIS scheme in Scotland since 1988 (this system records incidents of specific chemicals to provide feedback for regulations).  At least 95% of these incidents were attributed to the illegal abuse of a pesticide to poison non-target animals.  The most frequent casualties were birds of prey, with the remainder comprising corvid species, cats and dogs.  In the last decade, Carbofuran formulations appear to have become the poison of choice for individuals involved in illegal poisoning activities in Scotland.

PAW Scotland is the Partnership for Action Against Wildlife Crime in Scotland.  PAW Scotland partners include a wide range of bodies committed to tackling wildlife crime including conservation, land management, shooting and law enforcement organisations.

ENDS

COPY OF RSPB STATEMENT:

7 September 2012

Farm manager convicted of poison possession after Golden Eagle is killed near Bridge of Orchy

A farm manager has today (7th September) been convicted of possessing an illegal poison, following a police-led enquiry into the death of a golden eagle.

Earlier at Oban Sheriff Court, Tom McKellar pled guilty to possession of the banned pesticide Carbofuran and was fined £1200.

On 7th June 2009, a party of hillwalkers descending Beinn Udlaidh in northern Argyllshire, came across the body of the eagle, lying face down in the grass on a remote hillside near Bridge of Orchy.

The following day, the group contacted RSPB Scotland, who immediately notified Strathclyde Police.

That afternoon, the local police wildlife crime officer and RSPB Scotland investigations staff recovered the eagle carcass from the remote hillside.

It was photographed and seized as evidence by the police, meanwhile a post mortem by Scottish Government laboratories confirmed the bird had been poisoned with Carbofuran, a substance banned since 2001.

Further police investigations, including a search of land and buildings at Auch Estate, Bridge of Orchy,  recovered a quantity of carbofuran, a carbofuran-poisoned dead fox, and two handguns – found in the attic of a house occupied by estate employee Tom McKellar.

In subsequent days, the carcass of a sheep, laced with Carbofuran, was also found on a hillside in the area that the eagle had been found dead.

In December 2010, at the High Court in Glasgow, McKellar was convicted of possession of two hand guns, and was sentenced to 300 hours community service.

Commenting on today’s sentencing Ian Thomson, RSPB Scotland’s Head of Investigations, said:

“RSPB Scotland has invested considerable resources in assisting Strathclyde Police in the investigation of this significant case. We heartily commend the efforts of the police in their rigorous follow-up to the illegal poisoning of the golden eagle on Beinn Udlaidh, leading to this successful prosecution.

“We are very disappointed that, at the conclusion of the investigation, no-one has been charged with the poisoning of this golden eagle, one of our most vulnerable and iconic bird species, or with the laying out of poison baits in the open in our countryside.”

“While we welcome the conviction, yet again, we are dismayed that the final result of a high profile enquiry poses little in the way of a deterrent to those who continue to flagrantly disregard our wildlife protection laws. The illegal killing of protected birds of prey remains a persistent problem in some parts of Scotland, with, for example, six further golden eagles confirmed as illegally poisoned since this incident, including one in Lochaber earlier this year. We call upon the Scottish Government to urgently review the penalties imposed by the courts on those who break our wildlife laws.”

ENDS

UPDATE 6 May 2026: ‘Should I Marry a Murderer?’ New Netflix documentary provides sobering insight into brutal killing and burial of charity cyclist Tony Parsons by McKellar twins at Auch Estate, Glen Orchy (here)

 

 

Egg-thief Gonshaw in ASBO appeal – UPDATED

Convicted egg-thief Matthew Gonshaw is appealing the ASBO that prevents him from travelling to Scotland during the breeding season.

Court update due later….

Background info here, here, here, here

UPDATE: Gonshaw’s ASBO still stands. Apparently he failed to turn up and costs were made against him.

High hopes for new Scottish Environment Minister

We have a new Scottish Environment Minister, following the government reshuffle today. Stewart Stevenson MSP is out, and has been replaced by Paul Wheelhouse MSP.

Stevenson was ok, but always seemed slightly out of place in this role. He certainly didn’t engage with the issues as well as his predecessor, Roseanna Cunningham MSP had done. It would be fair to say he’d been unmemorable, but at least he didn’t sanction anything stupid during his time.

We don’t know much about Paul Wheelhouse, but a cursory glance at his page on the SNP website (here) gives us reason to be optimistic – he’s a member of the SSPCA and the RSPB.

We’ll be following his political activities with great interest.

Another poisoning incident goes unpublicised

The latest list of reported poisoning incidents in Scotland, as published by SASA, reveals that yet another poisoning incident took place earlier this year and it wasn’t publicised.

The report documents the discovery of a raven, a crow, a meat bait and two rabbit baits. The incident is categorised as ‘abuse’ and the chemical involved was the acutely toxic carbamate, Bendiocarb. This discovery was made in May and the location is given as ‘Borders’. The comments section says: “This incident is the subject of an on-going police investigation”.

So where was the publicity? What if the police hadn’t found all of the baits? What if more baits had been laid out? Where was the warning to the general public of the risks involved to them, their children and their pets if they stumbled across this poison? Isn’t there a duty of care for the authorities to warn the public about toxic poisons in their area?

There’s a fascinating document called ‘Communicating with the Public about Health Risks’, produced by Health Protection Scotland in 2008 (see here). This document spells out the importance of effective communication (with the public) about hazards that pose a risk to human health and gives very detailed guidance about how to communicate information about those risks.

There’s another useful document, called ‘Management of Public Health Incidents: Guidance on the Roles and Responsibilities of NHS-led Incident Management Teams’, produced by the Scottish Government in October 2011 (see here). This document details the statutory responsibilities for managing public health incidents and it tells us that poisons are indeed classified as a public health risk under The Public Health (Scotland) Act 2008. So who is failing in their duty to inform the public about these risks?

One of these days, somebody is going to come into contact with one of these poisoned baits and they’re either going to become seriously ill or even die. What would happen if it was revealed that the police already knew about the baits in that area/location, but hadn’t made the discovery public? There would probably be an almighty cry of public and media outrage and heads would roll. And they’d deserve to roll. This recurring situation is a scandal.

When are the interests of the public, and of wildlife, going to be put above the interests of protecting the identity of these sporting estates where illegal poisoned baits have been, and continue to be, routinely found?

Crown drops case against Edradynate estate gamekeeper

The case against Edradynate Estate Head Keeper David Campbell came to a close last Friday, after the Crown deserted the case at Perth Sheriff Court.

Campbell had been facing charges related to alleged firearms and explosives offences (see here, here and here), which he had denied.

We don’t know why the Crown deserted this case. It’s not the first time that charges against an Edradynate gamekeeper have been dropped (see the RSPB’s newsletter, Legal Eagle #43, page 3 here).

Linklater: “I stand by everything I wrote”

A couple of weeks ago we blogged about an article penned by the well-known advocate of ‘raptor control’, Magnus Linklater (see here).

He’s back again, this time as a guest blogger on Mark Avery’s ‘Standing up for Nature’ blog (see here). For a masterclass in arrogance and ignorance, you’d struggle to find a better example than his latest offering. You might think that “one of the country’s most respected journalists” (according to his editor) would have gone away to consider the factual inaccuracies that were pointed out by many knowledgeable readers of his original article, and then come back to discuss each point in turn. He didn’t manage to do that. Instead, he dug in his heels and stated, “I stand by everything I wrote“.

As is becoming more and more obvious, Linklater’s views seem to be representative of the majority of those involved in grouse-shooting, especially landowners and gamekeepers, judging by current and previous comments made by these groups. It’s easy to try and deflect attention from the real issue (continuing illegal raptor persecution) by attacking the UK’s largest conservation charity (RSPB), who just happen to be involved in exposing these illegal practices. What isn’t as easy is to convince an increasingly well-informed public that [driven] grouse-shooting shouldn’t now be banned.

For our anagram-loving readers, here’s another one: Kill Tuns Manager

Langholm harrier chicks 2012: sat-tag maps online

Two chicks from this year’s hen harrier nest at the Langholm Moor Demonstration Project have been fitted with satellite tags so their dispersal movements can be monitored.

In previous years the project has failed to release most of these data to the public, even though as tax payers we’re all part-funding this project (see previous blogs here, here, here, here). We’ve all got our opinions about why we’ve been kept in the dark about these birds’ movements, especially those ones whose signals mysteriously stopped working when the birds were visiting certain grouse moors – although strangely we were allowed to view the movements of the harrier who travelled to Spain (‘McPedro’).

This year, maps showing the recent movements of the 2012 Langholm harriers have been posted on a public blog called ‘Making the Most of Moorlands’, which is written by the project officer at the Langholm Moorland Education Project (see here for maps).

It’s great to have an opportunity to follow these two young harriers. Let’s hope the maps are kept updated so we can all be kept informed.

Dead raptors found in suspicious circumstances in Devon

Here’s another example of fine, proactive wildlife policing from Devon WCO Josh Marshall.

On his personal blog, which he set up specifically to raise awareness about wildlife crime in his region, Josh is reporting the discovery of a dead peregrine and a dead sparrowhawk that were found in suspicious circumstances last week. The birds were x-rayed and they hadn’t been shot, but their bodies were too decomposed to allow for any toxicology analysis.

Even though the cause of death could not be established, Josh believes that persecution had taken place due to the position of the birds.

Rather than keeping quiet and forgetting about the incident, knowing that it was going to be virtually impossible to make any more progress with the investigation, Josh chose to publicise the incident and asked people to be extra-vigilant when out walking in the area. Once again, he’s showing how suspected wildlife crimes should be handled. Well done that man.

Story on Josh’s blog here

Environment Minister backs sea eagle reintroduction

Crikey, this is the third ‘good news’ eagle story this month!

The East Scotland Sea Eagle Reintroduction Project reaches a milestone today: the final birds are due to be released from a secret location in Fife, bringing the total number of eagles released over the last six years to 85.

The project has not been without its problems – some of the eagles have been illegally poisoned or shot, while others have ‘disappeared’ in suspicious circumstances. There have also been some outspoken critics of the project (notably some farmers and gamekeepers). However, for most people, the return of these birds after such a long absence has been a welcome sight.

Environment Minister Stewart Stevenson said: “The return of sea eagles to the skies of Scotland’s east coast marks an important step in ensuring we now have a viable population of these magnificent birds. As well as fulfilling a role in our ecosystems, the birds are an important feature for our growing nature-based tourism industry“.

Congratulations to all involved in the project, especially RSPB, SNH and Forestry Commission Scotland.

BBC news article here