The Scotsman has published my opinion piece today about the potential impact of the new licensing scheme for grouse shooting in Scotland.
You can read it on The Scotsman website (here) and it’s reproduced below:
I call them ‘The Untouchables’. Those within the grouse-shooting industry who have been getting away with illegally killing golden eagles, and other raptor species such as hen harriers, buzzards and red kites, for decades.
They don’t fear prosecution because there are few people around those remote, privately owned glens to witness the ruthless and systematic poisoning, trapping and shooting of these iconic birds. If the police do come looking, more often than not they’re met with an Omertá-esque wall of silence from those who, with an archaic Victorian mindset, still perceive birds of prey to be a threat to their lucrative red grouse shooting interests.
For a successful prosecution, Police Scotland and the Crown Office must be able to demonstrate “beyond reasonable doubt” that a named individual committed the crime. As an example of how difficult this is, in 2010 a jar full of golden eagle leg rings was found on a mantelpiece during a police raid of a gamekeeper’s house in the Highlands. Each of those unique leg ring numbers could be traced back to an individual eagle.
The gamekeeper couldn’t account for how he came to be in possession of those rings, but the police couldn’t prove that he had killed those eagles and cut off their legs to remove the rings as trophies.
Despite the remains of two red kites, six illegal traps, an illegally trapped hen harrier and poisoned bait also being found on the estate, the gamekeeper was fined a mere £1,500 for being in possession of one dead red kite, that was found mutilated in the back of his estate vehicle.
In another case in 2010, three golden eagles were found poisoned on a grouse-shooting estate in the Highlands over just a few weeks. Even though the police found an enormous cache of the lethal poison – carbofuran – locked in a shed to which the head gamekeeper held a key, they couldn’t demonstrate that he was the person who had laid the poisoned baits that had killed the eagles. This meant he was fined £3,300 for the possession of the banned poison, but wasn’t prosecuted for killing the eagles.
In recent years, researchers have been fitting small satellite tags to young golden eagles which allows us to track their movements across Scotland, minute by minute. Analysis has shown that between 2004 and 2016, almost one third of tagged eagles (41 of 131 birds) ‘disappeared’ in suspicious circumstances, mostly on or next to grouse moors.
Satellite-tagged golden eagle prior to fledging. This eagle was tagged in 2014, ‘disappeared’ on a Strathbraan grouse moor in 2016 and it’s satellite tag was found wrapped in heavy lead sheeting in the River Braan in 2020. Photo by Duncan Orr-Ewing
The lengths the criminals will go to avoid detection were exposed in 2020 when a walker found a satellite tag that had been cut off an eagle, wrapped in heavy lead sheeting – presumably to block the signal – and dumped in the River Braan. The tag’s unique identification number told us it belonged to a young eagle tagged in the Trossachs in 2014. This eagle had disappeared without trace from a Perthshire grouse moor in 2016, in an area where eight other tagged eagles had vanished in similar suspicious circumstances. Nobody has been prosecuted.
The remains of the satellite tag that had been cut off the eagle, wrapped in lead sheeting and dumped in a river. Photo by Ian Thomson, RSPB Scotland
The most recent disappearance of a tagged eagle happened just before Christmas 2023, close to the boundary of a grouse moor in the Moorfoot Hills. ‘Merrick’ was translocated to the area in 2022 as part of the South of Scotland Golden Eagle Project. Her tag data told us she was asleep in a tree immediately before she disappeared. Police found her blood and a few feathers at the scene and concluded she’d been shot. Who shoots a sleeping eagle? Again, no one has been prosecuted.
This situation has persisted for decades because although golden eagles have been afforded legal protection for the last 70 years, to date there hasn’t been a single successful prosecution for killing one. The chances of getting caught and prosecuted have been so low that the risk of committing the crime has been worth taking, over and over again. Until now.
Earlier this year, the Scottish Parliament passed new legislation, the Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Act 2024, which introduces a licensing scheme for grouse shooting. For the first time in 170 years, red grouse shooting can now only take place on estates that have been granted a licence to shoot.
How will this stop the slaughtering of golden eagles and other birds of prey on Scotland’s grouse moors? Well, the licence can be revoked for up to five years if there is evidence of wildlife crime on the estate. Significantly, this will be based on the civil burden of proof which has a lower evidential threshold than the criminal burden of proof.
This means that instead of the police having to prove ‘beyond reasonable doubt’ that a named individual was responsible, they now have to prove that it’s based only on the ‘balance of probability’. This is a real game-changer because instead of being perpetually ‘untouchable’, now there are real, tangible consequences for the grouse shooting industry if these crimes continue. Estates will no longer be able to rely on the implausible protestation that ‘a big boy did it and ran away’.
As with any legislation, it will only be effective if it is strongly enforced. The jury’s out on that and we’ll be keeping a close eye on performance, but as the licensing scheme is based on a policy of mistrust, the Scottish Government has sent an unequivocal message to the grouse shooting industry. We all know what’s been going on and the public will no longer tolerate it.
Blog readers may recall a press release in April 2024 from North Yorkshire Police detailing the execution of a search warrant on an unnamed grouse moor in the Yorkshire Dales National Park, in relation to the illegal persecution of hen harriers (see here).
This hen harrier was euthanised after suffering catastrophic injuries in an illegal trap set next to its nest on a grouse moor in Scotland in 2019. Photo by Ruth Tingay
The very first line of that press release said this:
“On Wednesday, (17 April 2024), a National Harrier Task Force operation was held at an undisclosed location in the Yorkshire Dales“.
That was the first time I’d heard of the ‘National Harrier Task Force’ but I’ve since learned much more about it.
I’ll begin this blog with the reproduction of a press article about the new Taskforce that appeared on a relatively obscure website (CandoFM) in May 2024, then I’ll provide some of my own commentary on this new initiative.
Here’s the press article:
Hen Harrier Task Force Launched To Tackle Illegal Persecution
A new task force has been launched to tackle the illegal persecution of hen harriers, one of the rarest bird of prey species in the UK.
The National Wildlife Crime Unit (NWCU) will use innovative technology and strategic partnerships to detect, deter and disrupt offenders.
Given the rarity of hen harriers, significant resource is invested in their conservation. Satellite tags are fitted to the birds to research their ecology, but these tags have also revealed a concerning amount of illegal killing.
Criminals are intent on targeting this vulnerable species and operate with impunity. There have been no successful prosecutions in recent years despite the efforts of the police and partners.
In response, the launch of the Hen Harrier Task Force, led by Detective Inspector Mark Harrison of the NWCU, represents a pivotal shift in combating wildlife crime.
“The persecution of birds of prey is not just a wildlife issue; it’s serious crime blighting our countryside,” said DI Harrison. “With the launch of the Hen Harrier Task Force, we are determined to disrupt illegal activity and protect this vulnerable species.”
Central to the bird of prey task force’s approach is standardising reporting practices and improving the police response to incidents. Police and partners will work together to ensure resources are deployed swiftly and investigative opportunities are maximised. The task force will also bring together partners to engage with local communities and raise the profile of hen harrier persecution in a unified effort against wildlife crime.
“We cannot tackle this problem alone,” emphasised DI Harrison. “Through proactive partnerships and community engagement, we can strengthen our response and hold perpetrators to account.”
The task force will tackle crimes involving satellite tagged birds of prey. It is data-led, relying on analysis of police data and hotspot mapping. The NWCU has identified crime hot spots where they can focus enforcement efforts, as well as other areas of historic vulnerabilities where they will be seeking to revisit and raise their presence with landowners and land users. These meetings are an opportunity to highlight the issues/risks and identify ways to prevent further incidents from occurring.
Rather than purely focusing on the wildlife aspect of the crime, DI Harrison has tasked his team with taking a holistic view of the criminality and considering all types of offences. Criminals will often steal and destroy the satellite tags to conceal their offending. This could constitute criminal damage, theft and fraud. In the last few years alone, £100,000 worth of satellite tags have been lost in circumstances suspected to be criminal. The apparent use of firearms adds a further level of seriousness to these cases.
Recent examples of this include Anu, a hen harrier in South Yorkshire, which had its satellite tag deliberately cut off by someone possibly using scissors or a knife. Asta, a hen harrier in North Yorkshire, is another example. Although the dead bird was not found, its tag was recovered from a dead crow. The NWCU suspect that fitting the tag to a crow was an attempt to make it look like the hen harrier was still alive and hide the fact that it had been illegally killed. Unfortunately, the crow also died from unknown causes.
The task force’s multifaceted approach includes:
Improved incident response: Standardised reporting processes enable rapid response to suspicious incidents, ensuring investigative opportunities are maximised.
Innovative technology: From tracking drones to specialised detection dogs, the task force uses innovative tools to overcome logistical challenges and enhance evidence collection in remote areas.
Strategic partnerships: The taskforce brings together law enforcement, government agencies, non-governmental organisations, landowners and communities to tackle crime in hotspot areas.
Community awareness Initiatives: Building on successful models like Operation Owl, the task force seeks to boost public support and encourage vigilance against wildlife crime.
As the task force gains momentum, the team will be dedicated to protecting the UK’s hen harriers. Through collaboration and innovation, it is set to make a lasting impact in the fight against wildlife crime.
About the Hen Harrier Task Force
The Hen Harrier Task Force is an initiative led by the UK National Wildlife Crime Unit and supported by seven police forces (Cumbria, Derbyshire, Durham, Northumbria, North Yorkshire, South Yorkshire and West Yorkshire), DEFRA, the RSPB, National Gamekeepers’ Organisation, British Association for Shooting and Conservation (BASC), The Wildlife Trusts, GWCT, national parks, Country Land and Business Association (CLA), Natural England and The Moorland Association to combat the persecution of hen harriers in the UK. The taskforce aims to detect, deter, and disrupt offenders involved in wildlife crime by using technology and improving partnership working.
ENDS
My initial reaction to this new Taskforce was one of deep cynicism. Given some of the organisations involved, it just looks like yet another pseudo-‘partnership’ that will achieve nothing other than providing a convenient vehicle for DEFRA and its raptor-killing mates within the grouse shooting industry to be able to pretend that they have a zero tolerance approach to the illegal killing of hen harriers because they are all ‘cooperating’ on this Taskforce.
It’s a ploy that’s been utilised many times before and has simply facilitated the continued illegal killing of hen harriers (and other raptor species) without anyone being held to account. The RPPDG (Raptor Persecution Priority Delivery Group) is a prime example – established thirteen years ago in 2011 and has served no useful purpose in terms of tackling raptor persecution, but has provided numerous Government Ministers with an opportunity to appear to be dealing with it. Utter greenwashing.
Those of you with long memories will remember Operation Artemis, another police-led initiative launched twenty years ago in 2004 designed to work in ‘partnership’ with grouse moor owners to tackle the illegal killing of hen harriers. Here’s some info about it from the RSPB’s 2004 Birdcrime Report:
As described by the RSPB, Op Artemis was not well-received by the shooting industry, even resulting in an article published in The Times where the then Chief Executive of the Countryside Alliance, Simon Hart (who later became Chief Whip for the Conservatives) said the police operation was “part of a wider witch-hunt against gamekeepers“.
Operation Artemis stumbled along until 2007 when it was closed down after achieving nothing at all. Here are two more write-ups about it from the RSPB’s Birdcrime Reports in 2006 and 2007 respectively:
Given the complete failure of Operation Artemis to effectively tackle the illegal killing of hen harriers on driven grouse moors, how will this latest initiative, the National Hen Harrier Taskforce, rolled out some 20 years later, be any different?
Well, there are some positive differences.
This time around, the police have the benefit of access to hen harrier satellite-tracking data (provided by Natural England and the RSPB) which has allowed the National Wildlife Crime Unit (NWCU) to identify clear persecution hotspots, i.e. the estates where a disproportionate number of hen harriers are killed / ‘go missing’ in comparison to the rest of the species’ range.
These wildlife crime hotspots have been known for years but this time the NWCU has done its own analysis on the tag data and, even though it has drawn the same conclusions as the RSPB previously, because the hotspots have been identified by the Police it cuts off any opportunity for estate owners to claim that the data are ‘biased’ or ‘fabricated’ simply because the data belonged to the RSPB. In other words, the estate owners/managers can’t so easily dismiss the data as not being credible.
Another major difference this time around is that the police officer leading the Taskforce, Detective Inspector Mark Harrison, is taking a much more strategic approach. He’s not only looking at the offence of killing a hen harrier – he’s looking at the wider, associated offences such as theft (of very expensive satellite tags) and firearms offences. In combination, these crimes amount to a considerable and serious level of offending and can open the door to the police receiving permission to undertake covert tactics, including surveillance and communications monitoring.
To reach that stage, certain steps have be taken first as part of a longer-term strategy. These include police visits to the known hotspot estates (and I understand that there have now been several of these visits in addition to the one in the Yorkshire Dales National Park that was reported in April). If, after these visits, hen harrier persecution continues to be suspected at those hotspots, the police will then be in a position to demonstrate to senior officers that the ‘nicely nicely’ approach has been tried but hasn’t worked and so permission to begin more covert tactics is more likely to be granted.
Permission should be granted just on the basis of suspected firearms offences taking place. If the estate owners / managers / gamekeepers are denying any knowledge of the offences (which is what they’ve been doing for 30+ years) then the police can legitimately conclude that ‘someone’ [apparently unidentified] is running around an estate committing firearms offences and is clearly a threat to the public. As the fundamental role of the police is a duty to protect the public then I can’t see how permission to deploy more covert tactics can legitimately be withheld under these circumstances.
Of course none of these ideas are anything new – we’ve all been saying for years that if estate owners / managers / gamekeepers claim not to know who’s committing firearms offences on their land then there’s a serious concern that armed individuals are running amok and those estate owners / managers / gamekeepers should be fully supportive of the police doing everything they can to find them, just as any of us would if armed criminals were operating on our property.
However, the difference this time is that here we have a senior police officer, with a background specialism in covert surveillance (and thus a deep understanding of what hoops need to be jumped through to get permission for covert ops), prepared to push the envelope and take a more radical approach and actually implement this strategy instead of just talking about it, and I applaud him for that. Whether he’ll be allowed to stay in post for long enough to carry through with this strategy remains to be seen.
Another new initiative with this Hen Harrier Taskforce is a ‘mutual aid agreement’ between a number of police forces. One of the big issues in tackling wildlife crime, and particularly raptor persecution, has always been the availability of a wildlife crime officer to attend the scene promptly to secure evidence. We all know that the police are stretched, budgets are stretched, and it’s not always possible to get an officer on scene quickly – sometimes delays run into days and weeks, which is ridiculous. The mutual aid agreement means that a number of regional police forces have committed to making officers available at short notice for cross-border searches if the local officers can’t attend in time. If that works in practice, it should be good.
Once on scene, the Taskforce is also utilising a wide array of new techniques and equipment to aid any searches. These include the use of drones working within the range of satellite tag signals and the use of specialised detection dogs trained to search for bird corpses, amongst other things.
This all sounds very promising, on paper. Although to be fair, the Taskforce has already started the strategic plan by paying visits to those known persecution hotspots and has given fair warning to the estates about what they can expect if the persecution continues.
The only issue I have with that approach at the moment is that those crime hotspot estates have not been publicly named. The police say this is because they’re trying to build relationships of trust. I say they’re shielding the criminals. I have been told that the decision not to name hotspot estates is ‘not set in stone’ and may be revisited.
Let’s see.
I wish the Taskforce well and, given the current rate of ongoing hen harrier persecution on grouse moors, I’ll expect to see results in the not-too distant future.
UPDATE 17 July 2024: Is the Moorland Association already trying to sabotage the police’s new National Hen Harrier Taskforce? (here)
Two mainstream BBC TV programmes, Landward and Countryfile, last week included features on raptor conservation projects in south Scotland – both worth watching on BBC iPlayer if you missed them.
Landward featured the brilliant George Smith, a volunteer from the Scottish Raptor Study Group, who has been monitoring peregrines across south Scotland for almost 40 years. He’s filmed visiting peregrine nest sites to ring chicks (under licence) and to collect DNA samples (also under licence).
It was a direct result of George’s dedicated and meticulous research that led to the recent conviction of part-time gamekeeper Timothy Hall and his son, Lewis Hall, for the illegal laundering of wild peregrines that were stolen from nests in south Scotland and then sold on to falconers in the Middle East, allegedly for enormous profit according to the Crown.
Worryingly, some more peregrine nests that George is monitoring this year have failed in suspicious circumstances and Police Scotland are currently investigating.
This episode of Landward is available on BBC iPlayer here (peregrine segment starts at 7 min 48 sec) and is available for the next 11 months.
Countryfile had two features of interest to readers of this blog. First was an overview of the conservation restoration work going on at the Tarras Valley Nature Reserve, the former Langholm grouse moor that was bought out from Buccleuch Estates by the Langholm community in 2022. Tarras Valley NR Estate Manager Jenny Barlow provides a commentary on the significance of the reserve and describes some of the projects underway.
Then Dr Cat Barlow from the South Scotland Golden Eagle Project took a presenter out into the hills in search of one of the satellite-tagged golden eagles that had previously been translocated to south Scotland to boost the formerly tiny remnant population. Cat discusses the project’s successes as well as the ongoing threat of illegal persecution, highlighted by what Police believe was the illegal shooting and killing of golden eagle ‘Merrick‘ last October, very close to the boundary of the Raeshaw Estate in south Scotland. Unfortunately Cat didn’t discuss the suspicious disappearances of a number of the translocated sub-adult eagles from the Western Isles that are rumoured to have ‘vanished’ when they dispersed north from southern Scotland. The piece also includes some of the important educational work the project is undertaking with local school children in south Scotland in an attempt to improve the future protection of eagles in this region.
This episode of Countryfile is available on BBC iPlayer here (Tarras Valley segment starts at 39 min 10 sec and South Scotland Golden Eagle Project segment starts at 46 min 30 sec). This episode is only available for another 26 days.
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)
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)
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)
The case against Ruabon Moor gamekeeper Stuart Hart has been discontinued.
Hart, 47, had faced two charges – Using a trap to kill or take a wild bird (in this case, a Goshawk) and possession of an article capable of being used to commit a summary offence (see here and here for earlier blogs).
Young goshawk in a cage trap. Photo by RSPB (file photo, not linked to this case)
The first hearing in this case was held at Wrexham Magistrates on 28 March 2024. Hart had not entered a plea as his defence solicitor told the court he considered there had been procedural errors in the way the case had been brought. He also told the court that he wanted to challenge the admissibility of the RSPB’s video evidence (here).
The case was adjourned and was due to be heard again today (30 April 2024). However, according to the court, the case has now been discontinued.
Interesting. More to come on this…
UPDATE 26 November 2024: Ruabon Moor gamekeeper prosecution – why the case was discontinued (here)
The first hearing in the case against gamekeeper Stuart Hart was heard at Wrexham Magistrates, North Wales last Thursday (28 March 2024).
Hart, 47, faces two charges – Using a trap to kill or take a wild bird (in this case, a Goshawk) and possession of an article capable of being used to commit a summary offence (see here for earlier blog).
Young goshawk in a cage trap. Photo by RSPB (file photo, not linked to this case)
Hart’s defence solicitor, Michael Kenyon, told the court there were procedural errors in the way the case had been brought, and in addition he wanted to challenge the admissibility of the RSPB’s video evidence, so the case was adjourned to be heard by a District Judge. (A District Judge is legally-qualified, usually a former solicitor or barrister, whereas magistrates are non-legally-qualified volunteers who depend on a qualified legal advisor in the court to direct them on the relevant law).
Hart has not yet entered a plea.
Michael Kenyon will be a familiar name to those who follow raptor persecution prosecutions. He represented gamekeeper Timothy Cowin in 2018 who was accused of shooting dead two short-eared owls on Whernside, Cumbria after being caught on camera by RSPB Investigations staff. Kenyon challenged the procedural basis of that case (e.g. see here), resulting in an extraordinary series of hearings at five different courts across NW England (here). Eventually Cowin was convicted (here).
Hart’s case will next be heard on 30 April 2024.
NB: Comments are turned off for legal reasons until criminal proceedings have concluded.
UPDATE 30 April 2024: Case discontinued against Ruabon Moor gamekeeper Stuart Hart (here)
UPDATE 26 November 2024: Ruabon Moor gamekeeper prosecution – why the case was discontinued (here)
A gamekeeper is due to appear before Wrexham Magistrates tomorrow (Thurs, 28 March 2024) after being charged with alleged wildlife crime offences.
According to court documents, Stuart Hart, 47, faces two charges – Using a trap to kill or take a wild bird (in this case, a Goshawk) and possession of an article capable of being used to commit a summary offence.
Young goshawk in a cage trap. Photo by RSPB (file photo, not linked to this case)
A press release about this case issued by North Wales Police earlier this month (here) was quite vague, with no details about the date of the alleged offences and no detail about the location other than ‘on the outskirts of Wrexham‘.
Hopefully more detail will be available after tomorrow’s hearing. This will be the defendant’s first court appearance and he’s yet to enter a plea.
NB: Comments are closed until criminal proceedings have concluded.
UPDATE 31 March 2024: Defence solicitor in prosecution against gamekeeper Stuart Hart wants to challenge admissibility of RSPB video evidence (here)
UPDATE 30 April 2024: Case discontinued against Ruabon Moor gamekeeper Stuart Hart (here)
Some of you may remember a joint statement issued by five pro-shooting organisations in January 2020 professing ‘zero tolerance’ for raptor persecution crimes.
I wrote at the time why I didn’t find their claim convincing and that the five signatory organisations (BASC, Moorland Association, National Gamekeepers Organisation, Countryside Alliance, Country Land & Business Association) needed to do much more to persuade anyone to take them seriously. Just being so-called partners on the sham Raptor Persecution Priority Delivery Group (RPPDG) is nothing more than a greenwashing exercise, in my opinion.
More evidence has now surfaced about the National Gamekeepers Organisation (the membership body for gamekeepers in England & Wales) and what I would call its underhand tactics to try and disrupt investigations into alleged raptor persecution crimes.
In December 2023 I submitted an FoI request to Northumbria Police asking for, amongst other things, copies of 2023 correspondence between the National Gamekeepers Organisation (NGO) and Deputy Chief Constable Debbie Ford, who at the time was the National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC) Lead for Rural & Wildlife Crime.
It turns out that the NGO had written to DCC Ford in February 2023 to highlight its three concerns in relation to bird crime.
The NGO’s first complaint was redacted by the FoI officer at Northumbria Police (see below). I’ve since submitted a separate FoI request for this detail and await a response.
The second complaint related to, surprise surprise, the NGO’s objection to the involvement of the RSPB in raptor persecution investigations. I’ll come to that below.
The third complaint related to the RSPB and members of the North of England Raptor Forum (NERF) and about what happens to birds and eggs once an investigation had concluded. It isn’t clear to me what the basis of this complaint is.
Here’s a copy of the FoI response I received from Northumbria Police:
Let’s focus on the NGO’s second complaint about the RSPB’s involvement in raptor persecution investigations.
This is a tired old trope that gets regurgitated every now and then by those who seek to marginalise the expertise and experience of the RSPB. Expertise and experience that has been utilised by police forces across the UK, time and time and time again, resulting in criminal gamekeepers being hauled before the courts and being convicted of raptor persecution crimes. This partnership working has been particularly effective in recent years, with the police leading many multi-agency raids (with partners including the RSPB, Natural England, NWCU and Natural England), resulting in the high profile conviction of a number of criminal gamekeepers (e.g. here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here).
Perhaps it’s these successful convictions of gamekeepers that have triggered the NGO’s complaint? But in this case, the NGO has provided wholly misleading ‘evidence’ to DCC Ford to justify their complaint. They reference a poisoned red kite found in Yorkshire in 2021 by the RSPB’s Investigations Team and argue that ‘police officers didn’t find out about this until 6 months later‘.
That’s not a factual account of what happened at all, and I daresay the NGO probably knows this because I wrote about that case 12 days before the NGO sent its email to DCC Ford. It relates to a poisoned red kite found on Swinton Estate that North Yorkshire Police failed to investigate, despite being told by the RSPB about the discovery of the kite on the day it was found (see here for case details).
So not only is the NGO going crying to the National Police Lead on Wildlife Crime with a baseless complaint about the RSPB, it’s also attacking an organisation that it’s supposedly in ‘partnership’ with on the RPPDG – you know, that ‘partnership’ that is supposedly focused on tackling raptor persecution crimes.
There’s more.
According to the FoI response I received from Northumbria Police, DCC Ford didn’t reply in writing to address the NGO’s complaints, but someone from DCC Ford’s office had a conversation with the NGO and suggested that the NGO raise the issue at the next RPPDG meeting.
In response to that suggestion, the NGO’s Development Officer (North), who I presume is John Clarke, wrote back to DCC Ford’s staff officer wanting “assurances that there will be 100% support from the police to carry this through” and he included a veiled threat about the NGO leaving the RPPDG (having already resigned once before) if the police didn’t support the NGO’s attack on the RSPB:
Interestingly, the NGO’s complaint has not been raised at any subsequent RPPDG meetings, presumably because the police refused to support it.
Why is the National Gamekeepers Organisation still serving on the RPPDG? It’s absurd to think that this so-called ‘partnership’ for tackling raptor persecution crimes will achieve anything of significance whilst the NGO is attempting to disrupt police investigations via the back door.
Raptor Persecution UK 