Category: Persecution Incidents in England

Former Holkham Estate head gamekeeper gets conditional discharge

The case against former Holkham Estate Head Gamekeeper Nicholas Parker was finally heard yesterday at Norwich Magistrate’s Court. He was given a conditional discharge.

Several charges against him had been dropped; one of them reportedly because much of the prosecution’s evidence related to allegations from 2008 and the Wildlife & Countryside Act 1981 required evidence to be within two years.

The District Judge, Philip Browning, gave the conditional discharge after hearing how much Parker had already ‘suffered’, after his firearms certificate had been confiscated and because the case had been given significant public attention. Clever defence barrister. A barrister of the same name is listed as also being a Council Member of the British Association of Shooting and Conservation (BASC) and an expert in firearms law here.

Court report here

Background to this story here, here, here and here

An explanation of what a conditional discharge is here

JULY 18 2011 UPDATE here

Man arrested & bailed for kite deaths in Cumbria – guns & poisons seized

A man has been arrested and bailed over the illegal killing of red kites in Cumbria. At least three kites are known to have been illegally killed since the reintroduction project began in August 2010. Two were shot (see reports here and here) and one was poisoned (see here).

The arrest followed a police raid on a farm (currently un-named) in the Ulverston area on Tuesday, during which a number of firearms and illegally held poisons were seized.

A Cumbria Police spokesman said the man was arrested on suspicion of intentionally killing a protected wild bird and on suspicion of poisoning and firearms offences. According to the Westmorland Gazette, the man has been released without charge and bailed until July 21st.

More on this news story here, here and here

Howden Moor sporting tenant is a Purdey Award winner

Following the conviction this week of gamekeeper Glenn Brown on the National Trust’s Howden Moor in the Upper Derwent Valley, Derbyshire, the sporting tenant has been named on the Birdguides website as Geoff Eyre (scroll to the comments section under the article).

According to The Moorland Association website, Geoff Eyre won the 2005 Purdey Award for Game and Conservation, for his Howden Regeneration Project. (As an aside, scroll down the page to see another 2005 Purdey Award winner, head gamekeeper Jimmy Shuttlewood from the Snilesworth Estate North Yorkshire – who was later convicted in 2008 with two underkeepers for the use of cage traps to capture birds of prey – story here).

Geoff Eyre has had a lot written about his pioneering work to restore Howden Moor to its former glory as a viable grouse moor. Here in 2006 he spoke about the ‘beneficial’ work of his gamekeeper. Also in 2006, this article was written in The Telegraph about the return and then subsequent loss of a pair of hen harriers on Howden Moor. In 2007, he hosted a visit by a DEFRA Minister for Landscape and Rural Affairs, reported here in The Shooting Times, accompanied by gamekeeper Glenn Brown. The Minister was impressed with what he saw, calling the project an ‘inspiration’ and a good use of public money.

One can only assume that Geoff Eyre was completely unaware of the criminal activities of his gamekeeper. You can ask him about it, and whether Brown has been sacked, at National Trust activity days in September 2011 – details here.

Head gamekeeper jailed for cannabis factory on sporting estate but not charged for poisoned buzzard

In April 2010, we reported on the conviction of 26 year old gamekeeper Ben Walker, who was found guilty of 17 offences relating to the killing of protected species with poisonous baits on the Sufton Estate in Herefordshire in late 2009 (report here). During the police investigation into the alleged criminal activities on this sporting estate, it is reported that a poisoned buzzard was found in an outbuilding used by his boss, head gamekeeper Mark Rigby. As usual, it was not possible to ascertain who was responsible for the death of this bird – even though it might appear obvious. There are no reports of either keeper being charged for possession of the poisoned bird. However, a search of an adjacent outbuilding uncovered what has been described as ‘a large cannabis cultivation operation’. It seems it was not so difficult to establish the identity of the guilty party in this instance, because, according to the RSPB, at Worcester Crown Court on 24 November 2010 head gamekeeper Mark Rigby pleaded guilty to four counts of producing and possessing a Class B drug with intent to sell and he was imprisoned for two years.

The conviction of Rigby is reported in the latest issue of Legal Eagle, the RSPB’s investigations newsletter, here.

More on convicted Derbyshire gamekeeper Glenn Brown’s case

It was good to see so much media coverage following the conviction of criminal gamekeeper Glenn Brown on Monday. It made local, regional, national and international news, probably because he committed his crimes on National Trust property – which isn’t somewhere you’d normally expect to hear about wildlife crime taking place. Let’s hope that the National Trust are reviewing the lease of their land to the ‘un-named third party’ as we speak.

Despite the broad media coverage, very few articles mentioned the dead sparrowhawk that was found close to one of the traps that criminal gamekeeper Glenn Brown was operating.  Also found close by was the body of a white pigeon. Mark Thomas, one of the RSPB investigators involved with catching Brown at it, has written an excellent little piece about the investigation here, alluding to what might have happened to the dead sparrowhawk and dead pigeon.

Thomas also writes that since 2006, goshawk and peregrine productivity in the Derwent Valley has collapsed. By coincidence, gamekeeper Brown is reported to have been employed as a gamekeeper since 2006. Amazing.

Thomas and his colleagues from the RSPB Investigations team deserve a great deal of credit, especially for the innovative techniques they used to catch Brown. So too does Derbyshire Constabulary and the CPS. The resulting punishment for Brown, convicted of seven offences – 100 hours community service – delivered by District Judge Caroline Goulborn (famed for the recent cat-in-the-bin-case) is pathetic, especially when you consider the sentencing options available, which include fines up to £5,000 and a six month prison term for each offence. Had Brown not been ordered to pay £10,000 costs, some might have concluded that he had got off very lightly. Depending on who pays for these costs, and whether he keeps his job as a gamekeeper, some may be certain he got off lightly.

Derbyshire gamekeeper guilty of using illegal trap

The long-running trial that began over two months ago against Derbyshire gamekeeper Glenn Brown concluded today, and he was found guilty of using an illegal trap to try and catch birds of prey on the National Trust’s Howden Moor in the Peak District. The court heard that he was interested in protecting the grouse where he worked. The trial began on 11 April 2011 at Chesterfield Magistrates Court.

Brown was caught after RSPB investigators installed covert cameras overlooking a trap and filmed him over a period of time visiting the trap. He was unlawfully using a pigeon as a lure bird – this is illegal and is an indication that birds of prey were the target species he was trying to catch. He operated traps on land in the Upper Derwent Valley owned by the National Trust but leased by another party between 14 April and 25 May 2010.

Brown was found guilty of seven offences under the Wildlife & Countryside Act 1981 and the Animal Welfare Act 2010.

He was given 100 hours community service and ordered to pay £10,000 costs.

BBC news story here including video

More on this story later. Congratulations to the RSPB investigators for catching another criminal gamekeeper at it, and to Derbyshire Police and the Crown Prosecution Service for seeing the case through to trial. In the BBC news video, it is reported that Brown is the 100th gamekeeper to be convicted of crimes against birds of prey. So, Alex Hogg, Chairman of the Scottish Gamekeeper’s Association, still think it’s “unfair to accuse gamekeepers of wildlife crime“?

Nesting buzzard shot dead in Hertfordshire

Police in Hertfordshire have launched an investigation after a nesting buzzard died after being shot with a shotgun. Full story here

Young red kite poisoned in Cumbria

Cumbria Police are investigating the posioning of a red kite – the third kite to be killed in the region since a re-introduction project began last August.

The first dead kite from the project was shot dead in Dentdale in September 2010. The second dead kite had been killed by a shotgun wound in the Grizedale area, found under its roost tree on April 20 2011. The latest reported dead kite was discovered in January 2011 near Esthwaite Water, Hawkshead. Toxicology results have now confirmed this bird had been poisoned.

News story here

Reward offered for info on missing osprey

Members of the public have put up a £1,000 reward for information about a missing osprey, feared shot. The bird, known as Osprey 08, has been missing since 11 May 2011 in an area where two other ospreys have gone ‘missing’ since April 2010. Conservationists at the Rutland Water Osprey Project have been feeding fish to 08’s partner as she incubates eggs. She is reported to have now abandoned her nest, and the Project Team are hoping to save her eggs by moving them to another active nest.

If anyone has any information about the missing osprey, please call Leicester Police on: 0116 222 2222 or call the Osprey Project Team on: 01572 737378.

Osprey Project Team’s blog: http://www.ospreys.org.uk/category/osprey-team-blog/

BBC news story about the reward: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershire-13526489

Derbyshire gamekeeper trial: adjourned until June

The trial of gamekeeper Glenn Brown, accused of seven offences under the Wildlife & Countryside Act & the Animal Welfare Act, came to a temporary close on 13 May 2011. The charges relate to his alleged activities on Howden Moor in the Derwent Valley, Derbyshire. The trial has now been adjourned until 13 June 2011, when a verdict is expected at Chesterfield Magistrate’s Court.

For background info see blog posts 11 April 2011, 27 April 2011, 28 April 2011 and 9 May 2011.