Retired Edradynate Estate gamekeeper David Campbell has been refused bail as he awaits trial for allegedly murdering his former colleague, retired groundsman Brian Low.
Both the accused and victim were formerly employed on Edradynate Estate. Photo by Ruth Tingay
Mr Low, 65, was found dead with shotgun injuries to his neck and chest on Leafy Lane, Pitilie, near Aberfeldy in Perthshire where he’d been walking his dog on the morning of 17 February 2024.
Prosecutors claim Campbell killed former Edradynate Estate worker Mr Low, having ‘previouslyshown ill-will and malice towards him‘.
In addition to being charged with murder, Campbell, 75, of Crieff Road, Aberfeldy, was also accused of attempting to defeat the ends of justice between 17 February and 24 May 2024 by hiding the alleged murder weapon.
Campbell has so far made two court appearances (here and here) but has not yet entered a plea.
At his second court appearance on Tuesday 4 June 2024 where Campbell’s case was fully committed for trial, Sheriff Clair McLachlan granted Campbell bail. However, the Crown Office immediately opposed this decision and Campbell was returned to custody until the appeal against bail was heard on Friday morning:
Court listing for bail appeal, 7 June 2024
During a virtual hearing yesterday, Sheriff Gregor Murray upheld the Crown’s appeal and Campbell will now remain in custody.
A date for his next court appearance has not yet been scheduled.
As this case is live, comments are turned off until criminal proceedings conclude.
UPDATE 21 March 2025: Murder trial date set for Edradynate Estate ex-gamekeeper David Campbell, accused of shooting former colleague Brian Low in Aberfeldy (here)
The Wildlife Management & Muirburn (Scotland) Act 2024, which received royal assent on 30th April 2024 (here), is the long-awaited legislation that introduces a licensing scheme for red grouse shooting in Scotland.
It was introduced as the Scottish Government’s response to the continued widespread illegal killing of birds of prey on grouse moors. It will work on the basis that all red grouse shooting must now be licensed in Scotland and if, on the civil burden of proof (i.e. the balance of probability) sufficient evidence is found that the licence has been breached (including evidence of illegal raptor persecution), the licence can be withdrawn as a sanction, preventing the shooting of red grouse on a particular estate for a given period.
This is a significant improvement on the previous situation, where grouse-shooting was mostly unregulated and the evidence required to secure a conviction had to meet the higher threshold of the criminal burden of proof (i.e. beyond reasonable doubt), which was near enough impossible to achieve given the remoteness of the crime locations and the lack of witnesses. Even when a gamekeeper was successfully convicted, the shooting estate rarely suffered any consequences and red grouse shooting could continue as before.
Grouse moors like these at Leadhills (known locally as Dead Hills) in south Scotland will now be subject to licensing rules. Photo by Ruth Tingay
As part of the Wildlife Management & Muirburn Act, two new Codes of Practice are being developed to support the new law – a code of practice for grouse moor management and a code of practice for muirburn. If an estate breaches the terms of these new codes, its licence to shoot red grouse can be removed.
Following an update I wrote last month about the development of these two new codes (see here), there has been further progress on the grouse moor management code (referred to as the Grouse Code).
It is still in draft format but is said by officials to be ‘approaching a final version’. It’s anticipated that the Grouse Code will be in place for the start of the grouse shooting season on the Inglorious 12th August whereas the Code of Practice for Muirburn is not expected to be finalised until early 2025.
The latest draft version of the Grouse Code can be read/downloaded here:
Scotland’s statutory nature conservation agency, NatureScot, has finally started its species licensing review.
The Scottish Government’s Programme for Government 2021-2022 included a commitment to, ‘Review the wider species licensing system with a view to ensuring that the law is being applied correctly and that lethal control is only licensed where the conditions required for such a licence are demonstrably being met. The review will also assess the potential to apply the principle of full cost recovery to species licensing and the introduction of a public register of licenses to improve transparency‘.
This was also included in the shared policy agreement between the Scottish Greens and the SNP in 2021.
NatureScot issues approx 90 different types of licences each year to cover all sort of activities that otherwise would be illegal, e.g. Disturbance licences to Raptor Study Group members whose nest monitoring activities would otherwise disturb Schedule 1 raptor species, individual and general licences to kill various wild birds to prevent damage to livestock and crops and to protect public health and safety, licences to use certain traps to kill wild mammals, licences to kill mountain hares to prevent damage to trees, licences to permit the hunting of mammals with more than two dogs, and of course the imminent licences that will be required for grouse moor management under the new Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Act 2024.
NatureScot has just published its Terms of Reference (see below) for its Species Licensing Review and there are three main objectives:
Ensure that the law is being applied correctly and that lethal control is only licensed where the conditions required for such a licence are demonstrably being met;
Assess the potential to apply the principle of full cost recovery to species licensing;
Assess the potential to introduce a public register of licenses to improve transparency, bearing in mind data protection and safety of licence holders.
Objective #1 is obviously important and follows on from significant reviews of the General Licences in England, Wales and Northern Ireland after legal challenges from Wild Justice.
Objective #2 became a prominent topic of discussion during the debates on the Wildlife Management & Muirburn Bill – it was widely argued by conservationists that grouse moor owners should pay a fee for their licences, not only to cover the admin costs of issuing the licences but especially to cover subsequent compliance monitoring, which should not come at a cost to the public purse.
Objective #3 is interesting – a searchable public register of licences would be useful, especially if licence holders are required to provide annual licence returns (e.g. how many red grouse were lawfully shot in a particular area in a given season?).
The anticipated timetable for the review is provided in the Terms of Reference and it’s suggested that a report will be ready for external review in October 2024.
The Terms of Reference can be read/downloaded here:
Retired Edradynate Estate gamekeeper David Campbell, 75, made his second court appearance today, accused of the shotgun murder of retired groundsman Brian Low, 65, who was killed whilst walking his dog near Aberfeldy, Perthshire in February 2024.
Campbell’s first court appearance was at Dundee Sheriff Court on 27 May 2024 after being charged with murder and of attempting to defeat the ends of justice between 17 February and 24 May 2024 by hiding the alleged murder weapon.
Edradynate Estate where the accused and the victim had previously worked. Photo by Ruth Tingay
Appearing in private at Perth Sheriff Court on Tuesday 4th June 2024 for a full committal hearing, prosecutors allege that Campbell, of Crieff Road, Aberfeldy, murdered Brian Low by shooting him in the head and body on Leafy Lane, Pitilie, on 16 February 2024. Prosecutors claim he killed former Edradynate Estate worker Mr Low, having ‘previouslyshown ill-will and malice towards him‘.
Campbell made no plea during the hour-long hearing and was fully committed for trial.
Campbell’s defence solicitor David Holmes argued successfully for bail, which was granted by Sheriff Clair McLachlan. However, the Crown Office has appealed this decision and Campbell remains on remand until the appeal has been heard. Bail appeals can take up to 72 hours.
For those interested in the early court and bail procedure for those charged with serious offences in Scotland such as murder, this useful blog by Scottish advocate Andrew Crosbie and this useful blog by Douglas Thomson from the Society of Solicitors in the Supreme Courts of Scotland will be of interest.
As this case is live, comments are turned off until criminal proceedings conclude.
UPDATE 8 June 2024: Former Edradynate Estate gamekeeper & murder suspect David Campbell refused bail (here)
UPDATE 21 March 2025: Murder trial date set for Edradynate Estate ex-gamekeeper David Campbell, accused of shooting former colleague Brian Low in Aberfeldy (here)
Further to last week’s news that Norfolk Police were appealing for information after a laser was shone directly into a peregrine’s nest box at Cromer disturbing the breeding female (here), the BBC News website is today reporting that a man has handed himself in.
Green laser being shone directly into Peregrine nest. Photo by Cromer Peregrine Project
According to the article, a man in his 40s from the Cromer area, who has not been identified by police, turned himself in at Cromer Police Station on Saturday. He apologised and said he’d made a genuine mistake.
A spokeswoman for Norfolk Police said the incident was dealt with by way of a community resolution and it was agreed the laser would be destroyed.
The man also agreed to make a donation to the Cromer Peregrine Project and would engage in a formal discussion with a police officer about the safe use of lasers.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) has issued an appeal for information about the illegal shooting of a red kite in Newry in April 2024.
The kite, nicknamed Vivienne, was well known in the Mournes. She was found with gunshot injuries on Cullion Road in Newry on 20 April 2024 but was later euthanised due to the extent of her injuries.
“Following an x-ray on April 22, and later confirmation from Agri-Food and Biosciences (AFBI), it became evident in the x-ray that the bird had been shot, as pellets were embedded in its wing and neck, including a fracture to its humerus.
The Red Kite is a large, protected bird of prey, re-introduced to Northern Ireland in 2008 and is a truly beautiful raptor with distinctive markings, recognised by its fork tail.
This Red Kite, nicknamed ‘Vivienne’ due to its identifying wing-tags brown-pink 6V, was well-known in the area and throughout the Mournes since it was born here back in 2018.
At this time, we are asking for information from the public due to offences falling under the Wildlife (NI) Order 1985 as amended by the Wildlife and Natural Environment Act (NI) 2011.
Police take all wildlife crime very seriously and are appealing to anyone who has information about what may have happened to this protected bird to call us on 101, quoting reference number 1229 22/04/24.
If you are aware of anyone in the area intent on harming birds of prey, please contact police.”
The Moorland Association (the lobby group for grouse moor owners in England) has announced the election of a new Chair, James Lambert.
Lambert is a bit of an unknown quantity although seemingly was big in the ice cream world and was High Sheriff of North Yorkshire between 2022/23 so may have some useful connections for some of his grouse moor-owning mates.
He’s less well known as his predecessor was when he became Chair – Mark Cunliffe-Lister, who owns Swinton, the grouse-shooting estate that had been at the centre of numerous police investigations into alleged wildlife crime prior to his appointment at the Moorland Association, including the conviction of one of his gamekeepers, and would have been at the centre of another police investigation more recently had North Yorkshire Police bothered to do its job.
Cunliffe-Lister’s four-year tenure as Moorland Association Chair can be defined by his brazen denial on Radio 4’s Farming Today programme last summer when he claimed, “Clearly, any illegal [hen harrier] persecution is not happening” (see here).
Lambert has small shoes to fill. Let’s see whether he can bring some credibility to the Moorland Association, although don’t hold your breath. The press release announcing his appointment as Chair includes the following statements:
I doubt very much whether Lambert was responsible for writing this greenwashing propaganda but let’s look at the details anyway:
Yes, grouse moors dominate England’s designated SSSIs, which is probably why so many of them are in unfavourable conservation status (see here).
Yes, some grouse moor managers are undertaking peatland restoration but many of them are still burning on deep peat, completely ignoring the new regulations against this practice (see here). In fact two grouse moor owners have been convicted for burning on deep peat in protected areas – one* in the Peak District National Park (here) and the other in Nidderdale, who, embarrassingly, was a Director of…..The Moorland Association (see here)! [*Ed – see update at foot of blog]
Are grouse moors ‘strongholds’ for the hen harrier, short-eared owl, merlin, golden plover, ring ouzel and lapwing? If only the hen harriers weren’t being illegally shot, decapitated, stamped on, having their wings and legs pulled off, trapped etc (here, here and here), the short-eared owls weren’t being shot and stamped into the ground (here, here, here, here and here), the merlins weren’t being caught and killed in indiscriminate traps (here) or having their nest sites shot out (here) or having their nesting habitat burned to a crisp (here and here), the golden plover weren’t being shot for fun (still on the legal quarry list – see here), the ring ouzels weren’t being caught and killed in indiscriminate traps (here) and the lapwings weren’t being used as poisonous bait (here).
*UPDATE 10.24hrs – thanks to blog reader Tom who has pointed out in the comments section that one of the Directors of the company (Dunlin Ltd) prosecuted for burning on deep peat in the Peak District National Park appears to be listed as a new Director of the Moorland Association!!
Prominent gamebird breeder Christopher Hodgson, Director of Ashley Game Farm Ltd in Wembworthy, Chulmleigh, Devon appears to have pleaded guilty to multiple offences including the use of the banned pesticide Carbofuran.
Ashley Game Farm Ltd is an exceptionally large breeding facility that, according to its website, ‘specialises in supplying pheasants and partridges to shoots in the west country and all areas of the UK and Europe‘. It claims to have ‘a hatching capacityfor 410,000 eggs per week along with further investment in a second location atTarrington, Hereford‘ and ‘retains around 80,000 chicks at Ashley Game Farm every week‘.
A multi-agency raid was carried out at Ashley Game Farm in March 2021 (here) following the discovery of a poisoned buzzard and poisoned baits in 2020.
Officers from Devon & Cornwall Police, Natural England, National Wildlife Crime Unit and the RSPB recovered a number of substances during the raid that were then sent for expert analysis.
Multi-agency raid in 2021. Photo by RSPB Investigations
This led to charges being laid against Christopher Hodgson as well as Ashley Game Farm Ltd in relation to the alleged use of Carbofuran and the alleged possession, storage and use of various plant protection, veterinary medicine and rodenticide products without authorisation at the game farm (see here).
Despite being banned for use in the EU for over 20 years, Carbofuran remained the ‘gamekeepers poison of choice’ for the illegal killing of raptors in the UK for many years, although in the last few years it has been overtaken by Bendiocarb.
Hodgson was due to appear in court today but information provided by the North and East Devon Magistrates Court indicates he and Ashley Game Farm Ltd have already pleaded guilty and will be sentenced in July.
Here are the details of the offences provided by the court:
Ashely Game Farm:
On or before 26/03/2021 at Ashley Game Farm Limited, namely stored a plant protection product, namely Rivett MAPP 11300, without a valid authorisation or permission granted in accordance with Retained EU Regulation 1107/2009. Contrary to section 24 and 27 of the Plant Protection Products (Sustainable Use) Regulations 2012.
Between 01/10/2020 and 27/03/2021 at Ashley Game Farm Limited, used a plant protection product, namely Carbofuran, in contravention of Article 28 (1) of Retained EU Regs 1107/2009. Contrary to section 24 and 27 of the Plant Protection Products (Sustainable Use) Regulations 2012.
On or before 26/03/2021 at Ashley Game Farm Limited, used a Biocidal product, namely Lodi’s Sapphire Grain otherwise in accordance with the terms and conditions of its authorisation under Article 22 (1) and the labelling and packaging requirements of Article 69. Contrary to section 24 and 27 of the Plant Protection Products (Sustainable Use) Regulations 2012.
On or before 26/03/2021 at Chulmleigh contravened a requirement imposed by a prohibition notice served under section 22 of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 in that used a Biocidal product, namely Mole Valley Farmers Difenacoum Cut Wheat Rat Bait without authorisation being in force allowing for its use. Contrary to sections 22 and 33(1)(g) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.
On or before 26/03/2021 at Chulmleigh in the county of Devon possessed an unauthorised veterinary medicinal product, namely possessed an unauthorised veterinary medical product, namely Dimetridazole (DMZ). Contrary to regulations 26(1), 43(r) and 44(1) of the Veterinary Medicines Regulations 2013.
Christopher Hodgson:
On or before 26/03/2021 being a Director of Ashley Game Farm Limited, a body corporate who had committed an offence, stored a plant protection product, namely Rivett MAPP 11300, without a valid authorisation or permission granted in accordance with Retained EU Regulation 1107/2009 and the offence was committed with the consent or connivance, or attributable to the neglect of Christopher Hodgson. Contrary to section 24 and 27 of the Plant Protection Products (Sustainable Use) Regulations 2012.
Between 01/10/2020 and 27/03/2021 being a Director of Ashley Game Farm Limited, a body corporate who had committed an offence, namely used a plant protection product, namely Carbofuran, in contravention of Article 28 (1) of Retained EU Regulation 1107/2009 and the offence was committed with the consent or connivance, or attributable to the neglect of Christopher Hodgson. Contrary to section 24 and 27 of the Plant Protection Products (Sustainable Use) Regulations 2012.
Ashley Game Farm Ltd displays the logo of the Game Farmers’ Association on its website:
The Game Farmers’ Association (strapline: ‘representing the UK’s game farmers & promoting high standards‘) is one of the eight organisations in the shooting industry’s umbrella partnership, ‘Aim to Sustain‘, a lobbying campaign group aimed at promoting ‘sustainable and responsible’ game shooting. Presumably Christopher Hodgson and Ashley Game Farm Ltd will be expelled as a result of this criminal conviction.
Hodgson will appear in court in Exeter on 18 July 2024 for sentencing.
Well done to Devon & Cornwall Police, National Wildlife Crime Unit, Natural England and the RSPB’s Investigations Team for excellent partnership-working.
UPDATE 20 July 2024: Poisoned buzzard leads to discovery of multiple pesticide offences – Ashley Game Farm & Director Christopher Hodgson fined £40,000+ (here)
Retired Edradynate Estate head gamekeeper David Campbell, 75, appeared at Dundee Sheriff Court yesterday accused of the shotgun murder of Brian Low, 65, a retired groundsman also from Edradynate Estate.
Edradynate Estate driveway. Photo by Ruth Tingay
Campbell is accused of murdering Brian Low by shooting him in the neck and body with a shotgun as Mr Low walked his dog on Leafy Lane, Pitilie, on 17 February 2024. According to an article in The Courier (paywalled), prosecutors claim Campbell had ‘previously shown ill-will and malice‘ towards Mr Low.
Campbell is further accused of attempting to defeat the ends of justice between 17 February and 24 May 2024 by hiding the alleged murder weapon.
Campbell made no plea during the court hearing and was remanded in custody. He is due to appear in court again within eight days (this useful blog by Scottish advocate Andrew Crosbie outlines the court procedure for those facing allegations of serious crime such as murder).
As this case is live, comments are turned off until criminal proceedings conclude.
UPDATE 4 June 2024: Retired gamekeeper David Campbell accused of shotgun murder is granted bail – Crown Office appeals Sheriff’s decision (here)
UPDATE 8 June 2024: Former Edradynate Estate gamekeeper & murder suspect David Campbell refused bail (here)
UPDATE 21 March 2025: Murder trial date set for Edradynate Estate ex-gamekeeper David Campbell, accused of shooting former colleague Brian Low in Aberfeldy (here)
Further to the news yesterday that Police Scotland had arrested a 75-year-old man in connection with the murder of Edradynate Estate‘s recently retired groundsman Brian Low in Aberfeldy, Perthshire in February this year (here), Police Scotland has announced this morning that he has now been charged with murder.
David Campbell, 75, is due to appear at Dundee Sheriff Court on Monday 27th May 2024.
Edradynate Estate driveway. Photo by Ruth Tingay
Although this latest development will be of great interest to long-term readers of this blog, as Mr Campbell has now been charged comments will be turned off until legal proceedings have concluded. Thanks for your understanding.
UPDATE 28 May 2024: Retired Edradynate Estate gamekeeper David Campbell appears in court accused of shotgun murder of Brian Low (here)
UPDATE 4 June 2024: Retired gamekeeper David Campbell accused of shotgun murder is granted bail – Crown Office appeals Sheriff’s decision (here)
UPDATE 8 June 2024: Former Edradynate Estate gamekeeper & murder suspect David Campbell refused bail (here)
UPDATE 21 March 2025: Murder trial date set for Edradynate Estate ex-gamekeeper David Campbell, accused of shooting former colleague Brian Low in Aberfeldy (here)
UPDATE 22 November 2025: Pre-trial hearing for ex-gamekeeper accused of shotgun murder of former colleague (here)
Raptor Persecution UK 