Suffolk Police have arrested a man in connection with their ongoing investigation into the illegal shooting of five juvenile goshawks that were found dumped in a car park next to Kings Forest near Thetford in January.
The 70-year-old man from the Brandon area was arrested yesterday on suspicion of killing/taking a schedule 1 wild bird, possession of a schedule one wild bird and breach of firearms licence conditions.
He was taken to Bury St Edmunds Police Investigation Centre for questioning and subsequently released under investigation, pending further enquiries.
Let’s hope the police investigation leads to someone being charged and convicted. There’s currently a £16K+ reward available to anyone who provides information leading to a successful prosecution. The reward fund comprises £5K from the RSPB (here), £5K from Wild Justice (here), and £6K+ from a crowd funder set up by Rare Bird Alert (here).
Here’s a press statement from Suffolk Police, published yesterday afternoon:
Man released in connection with bird shooting – Wordwell
A man arrested in connection with the shooting of five birds in Wordwell near to Bury St Edmunds has been released under investigation.
The male in his 70s and from the Brandon area was arrested yesterday (Monday 27 March) on suspicion of killing/taking a schedule 1 wild bird, possession of a schedule one wild bird and breach of firearms licence conditions.
The five birds of prey were found on Monday 16 January, having been left in a parking area just off from the B1106 in Kings Forest, near Wordwell. X-rays were undertaken which showed all five birds had suffered injuries from multiple pieces of shot.
Officers from Suffolk’s Rural and Wildlife Policing Team were assisted by Norfolk police colleagues, as well as officers from the RSPB Investigations team and the National Wildlife Crime Unit.
The man was taken to Bury St Edmunds Police Investigation Centre for questioning and subsequently released under investigation, pending further enquiries.
All birds of prey are protected by law, and to kill or injure one could result in jail and/or an unlimited fine.
ENDS
UPDATE 7th June 2023: Man charged in relation to 5 shot goshawks found dumped in a forest carpark in January (here)
Last week I blogged about how a major shooting industry organisation, BASC, had attacked Suffolk Police for what BASC perceived to be an ‘offensive’ police appeal for information about the shooting of five young goshawks found dead at the edge of woodland near Thetford (here).
BASC complained that the police’s appeal was “disparaging to the shooting community” simply because the police had asked the shooting community for help to identify the shot gun-wielding criminal(!). Astonishingly, BASC’s complaint resulted in the police’s tweet/appeal for information being deleted.
Later, Suffolk Police released a joint press release with the RSPB, which seemed to enrage BASC even further. Bizarrely, BASC wrote on a blog:
“Can we assume the RSPB has more information on the matter than BASC as they were very quick yesterday to offer a £5,000 reward for information leading to conviction; shortly followed by a similar pledge from Wild Justice? It would be useful to know whether RSPB are complainants, victims, witnesses or have any other relationship with Suffolk Constabulary“.
I would argue that this is a cack-handed but sinister attempt by BASC to try and influence the narrative on raptor persecution crimes. If the police are too scared to publicise a raptor persecution incident or appeal for information about it, because they’re scared of a backlash from the industry who are, let’s not forget, responsible for 73% of convictions for raptor persecution crimes, then it’s job done for the shooting industry. No reports = no publicity = no bad press = no public pressure on politicians to tackle these relentless, systemic crimes.
And it’s not just BASC that appears to be at it. The National Gamekeepers Organisation (NGO) has recently written on its website its dissatisfaction with Lincolnshire Police and the RSPB about the reporting of raptor persecution offences in that county. It’s mostly about a recent incident where the remains of three barn owls, one tawny owl and one red kite were found dumped in a ditch (here), and the NGO incorrectly accuses RSPB Investigations Officer Howard Jones of ‘insinuating that a gamekeeper might be to blame for the Lincolnshire incident‘ in a BBC news article.
Actually, Howard Jones did no such thing, he was talking about raptor persecution crimes in general and he was simply stating facts – the “vast majority” of raptor persecution cases being dealt with by the courts involve gamekeepers. That is a factually accurate statement from Howard, however unpalatable/embarrassing that may be to the NGO. Neither the RSPB or Lincolnshire Police laid any blame on anybody after the discovery of those bird of prey remains in Lincolnshire – they simply said it was an ‘unusual’ case and were appealing for information (here).
The ridiculous NGO, though, has written on its website:
“The NGO are in contact with DC Flint of Lincolnshire Police and are hoping to meet with him in the near future to discuss both this case and to highlight our concerns about the reporting surrounding this case“.
Meanwhile, the NGO has failed (refused?) to publicise the recent conviction of Dorset gamekeeper Paul Allen, who pleaded guilty to multiple wildlife, poisons and firearms offences after the discovery of six shot buzzards, the burnt remains of three more buzzards, and three different types of banned poisons on his pheasant shoot and a loaded shotgun found propped up behind his kitchen door with rounds of unlicensed ammunition in an out-building.
The NGO has also remained silent about the discovery of the five shot goshawks found dumped in Suffolk last week.
Like BASC, you’ll know that the NGO is a member of the Raptor Persecution Priority Delivery Group (RPPDG), a so-called partnership (it’s a sham) whose main objective is to help eradicate raptor persecution by highlighting these crimes and publicly condemning the criminals involved.
Long-term blog readers will know this attempted manipulation of the narrative by the game-shooting industry is nothing new and has been going on for years, mostly behind the scenes and only uncovered via Freedom of Information requests (e.g. see here and here).
I’ve just been sent yet another example of it, this time in the Yorkshire Dales National Park. More on that shortly…
The reward for information leading to the conviction of whoever shot five goshawks and dumped them in Suffolk last week (see here) has now passed £14,000.
The RSPB has provided £5,000, Wild Justice has provided £5,000, and Rare Bird Alert’s crowdfunder appeal has so far accrued over £4,000.
I haven’t seen any effort by any of the game-shooting organisations to contribute to the reward; most of them haven’t even drawn to their members’ attention the police appeal for information, let alone told them about the reward (apart from BASC, whose response was to wail, loudly, about how offensive it was for the police to ask the shooting community for help to identify a criminal with a shotgun, here)!
There may be coverage of BASC’s histrionics in The Guardian tomorrow.
If you’d like to contribute to the reward, please visit the crowdfunder here.
If you have any information about this appalling crime, please call Suffolk Police on 101 and quote crime reference 37/3027/23. Alternatively, you can provide anonymous information via the RSPB’s dedicated Raptor Crime Hotline on 0300 999 0101.
UPDATE 7th June 2023: Man charged in relation to five shot goshawks found dumped in a forest car park in January (here)
At the beginning of this week, Suffolk Police put out an appeal on Twitter asking the shooting community to help identify the person who shot dead five young goshawks, which had been dumped at the edge of the King’s Forest near Thetford on Monday (see here).
The following day, Suffolk Police’s tweet was deleted without explanation. It soon became clear why – BASC, a prominent shooting organisation, had demanded it be removed because apparently it was offensive to ask the shooting community to help identify someone who had committed a crime with a shotgun! In a misjudged PR move, BASC even bragged about getting the police tweet removed:
I don’t think it’s disparaging in any way to ask the shooting community for help to solve a wildlife crime committed by someone with a shotgun. And let’s be honest, given the long history of goshawk persecution in the UK by members of the game-shooting industry, it’s perfectly logical to suspect that a member of that industry might be the perpetrator.
At this stage, Suffolk Police, quite rightly, hasn’t drawn any conclusions other than all five goshawks contained shotgun pellets (as revealed by x-ray).
My own view, for what it’s worth at this early stage of the investigation, is that the x-ray provided by the police shows that at least one of the dead goshawks had an enlarged crop, indicating that it had eaten recently. It’s not beyond the realms of possibly, or indeed probability, that these young goshawks had been enticed into a trap, over a period of time, by a decoy bird and then shot by whoever was operating the trap.
We know that goshawks are easily enticed into such traps (e.g. see here, here, here and here). We also know that many gamekeepers generally despise goshawks, due to their perceived threat to gamebirds; a view not helped by idiotic and inaccurate commentary about the species by senior members of the gamekeeping community including Alex Hogg, the Chairman of the Scottish Gamekeepers Association, who once wrote, “I strongly believe the goshawk never was indigenous to the United Kingdom and there is absolutely no hard evidence to suggest otherwise” (see here). Goshawk persecution is so rife in the UK, even inside some of our National Parks (e.g. see here and here) that the species has been identified as a ‘national wildlife crime priority’ by the National Wildlife Crime Unit.
Why were the dead goshawks dumped in a car park next to a public wood? Only the person who dumped them there can answer that, but again, it’s not the first time that illegally-killed goshawks have been placed to await discovery, as some kind of two-fingered salute by the killer(s).
For example, here is what happened to three young fledged goshawks from a nest in the Peak District National Park . The image below is an excerpt from the Peak Nest Watch 2010 end of season report, which can be downloaded here: peak_nestwatch_2010
Were the five shot goshawks found in Suffolk this week all from the same brood? DNA analysis can answer that. When were they shot and had the carcasses been frozen prior to being dumped? Again, forensic analyses will help. Until then, all we know is that a wildlife crime has been committed and Suffolk Police are to be congratulated for putting out an appeal for information within 24 hours of the shot birds being discovered.
I’ve seen other members of the shooting community make some ridiculous claims about this case over the last few days. One suggests that shotgun pellets ‘can easily be introduced into a carcass’, inferring that these birds weren’t shot at all but are the result of some kind of ‘set up’. He’s bonkers if he thinks anyone will believe that. Another former Head Gamekeeper, who routinely brags on social media about his supposed superior expertise on natural history, concluded that these were buzzards, not goshawks (he’s wrong, as usual) but even if he was right, it would still be a wildlife crime to shoot them. Bizarrely, the BASC Scotland twitter account ‘liked’ this post (thanks to blog reader Dr Rob Thomas @RobThomas14 for pointing this out):
Not content with forcing Suffolk Police to remove its original appeal for information on this case, BASC has now published an astonishing article on its website in an attempt to justify its action and also seems to be very cross about the £10,000 reward offered by the RSPB and Wild Justice. You can read the BASC article here.
[UPDATE: It appears that BASC’s blog is no longer available on its website. Fortunately it was screen-grabbed before it vanished, see below]
In my opinion, it’s staggering that BASC can so easily influence the narrative about raptor persecution crimes as it has done here, and it’s not the first time. I’ll be blogging shortly about another example that has recently come to light.
It’s also a little bit strange that BASC should feel offended about being asked to help find the criminal who shot these goshawks. BASC, you’ll recall, is a member of the Raptor Persecution Priority Delivery Group (RPPDG), the police-led ‘partnership’ designed to help tackle illegal bird of prey persecution in England & Wales. If BASC is so offended about the shooting industry being linked to raptor persecution, why on earth is it a member of the RPPDG?
Meanwhile, the crowdfunder to increase the £10,000 reward for information, launched by those decent people at Rare Bird Alert, is doing well. If you’d like to contribute, the crowdfunder page can be found here.
If you have any information about this appalling crime, please call Suffolk Police on 101 and quote crime reference 37/3027/23. Alternatively, to get in touch anonymously, call the RSPB’s dedicated Raptor Crime Hotline on 0300 999 0101.
UPDATE 7th June 2023: Man charged in relation to five shot goshawks found dumped in a forest car park in January (here)
UPDATE 29th June 2023: Gamekeeper Francis Addison receives suspended jail sentence in relation to five shot goshawks (here)
Further to the news that the RSPB and Wild Justice have put up a £10,000 reward for information leading to the conviction of the person who shot five young goshawks and dumped their bodies at the edge of The King’s Wood in Suffolk on Monday (see here), the bird news service Rare Bird Alert has launched a crowdfunder to increase the reward.
Here’s the wording of the crowdfunder, that went live earlier this morning:
On Monday 16th January 2023 officers from Suffolk Constabulary discovered the bodies of five dead Goshawks in Kings Forest, Suffolk.
Police have revealed that x-ray examination has shown all five birds had been shot. Further investigations are on-going.
A reward of £10,000 has been offered by the RSPB and Wild Justice for information leading to a conviction in connection with the birds.
Rare Bird Alert is setting up this appeal to increase that reward. If the reward is not paid out after a determinate period of time then it will be donated to the RSPB Investigations team for their continuing fight against raptor persecution.
We will not be silenced by those who kill birds of prey.
ENDS
Rare Bird Alert launched a similar fundraising appeal in 2015 after a rare Red-footed falcon was shot in Cambridgeshire (here), and that appeal raised over £2,700. It is hoped that this latest fundraiser provides the birding community with a constructive outlet for its anger at yet another appalling case of raptor persecution.
If you’d like to contribute, the crowdfunder page can be found here.
Further to the news that Suffolk Police have found five shot goshawks, dumped at the edge of the King’s Forest near Thetford (see here), conservation campaign group Wild Justice has partnered with the RSPB to increase the reward for information from £5,000 (here) to £10,000 (see here).
The five shot goshawks found by Suffolk Police on Monday 16th January 2023
“We are sick to the back teeth of the relentless illegal persecution of birds of prey in the UK, which is mostly associated with land managed for gamebird shooting, be that red grouse, pheasants or partridges. Indeed, it was our strength of feeling about raptor persecution, and our frustration at the failure of the Westminster and the devolved governments to tackle it effectively, that led to us founding Wild Justice in 2018. In partnership with the RSPB, we hope this substantial reward will encourage someone to come forward with information about whoever was responsible for this heinous crime, and that that information leads to a successful conviction“.
If you have any information, please call Suffolk Police on 101 and quote crime reference 37/3027/23. Alternatively, to get in touch anonymously, call the RSPB’s dedicated Raptor Crime Hotline on 0300 999 0101.
The BBC News website has picked up the news of this increased reward here and the Suffolk Live website has written about it here.
UPDATE 19th January 2023: Crowdfunder launched to increase reward for information on five shot goshawks found in Suffolk (here)
Further to this morning’s blog about Suffolk Police finding five shot goshawks on Monday, that had been dumped at the edge of the King’s Forest near Thetford (see here), the RSPB has issued an appeal for information and is offering a £5K reward, it’s highest ever.
The five juvenile goshawks. X-rays revealed all had been shot.
Here is the joint statement from the RSPB and Suffolk Police:
Five young birds of prey, identified as rare Goshawks, have been found dead in suspicious circumstances in a Suffolk Forest.
The birds were discovered on Monday 16 January at the edge of Kings Forest and reported to Suffolk Police, who x-rayed the birds as part of their investigation and found all five birds to contain multiple pieces of shot.
All birds of prey are protected by law, and to kill or injure one could result in jail and/or an unlimited fine.
The RSPB is working with Suffolk Police to help identify the culprit and has offered a reward of £5,000 to anyone who comes forward with information which leads to a conviction. This is the highest amount ever offered by the conservation charity, which has described the incident as ‘Utterly despicable.’
Goshawks are elusive birds of prey, around the size of a Buzzard, with yellow eyes and streaked undersides. They live quietly in forests in a handful of locations in the UK including Thetford Forest where these birds were found.
Mark Thomas, the RSPB’s Head of Investigations UK, said: “Anyone who values the natural world and abhors those who actively and criminally look to destroy it will feel as outraged as we do about this utterly despicable incident. We are calling on anyone who has information to come forward to the police.”
The RSPB and other specialists are assisting the police with their ongoing investigation.
The illegal killing of birds of prey remains a widespread national problem. The RSPB’s annual Birdcrime report for 2021, published in November 2022, revealed 108 confirmed incidents of birds of prey being shot, trapped or poisoned. However, the true number is likely to be far higher.
The report also found that Norfolk had the highest number of confirmed raptor persecution incidents than any other county in 2021.
Sergeant Brian Calver from Suffolk Police said: “This is a serious wildlife crime against an amazing schedule one bird of prey that was once driven to extinction in Britain. There is no place for such activity in modern times. Whoever is responsible for this needs to be brought to justice and I’d urge anybody with any information whatsoever to let us know.”
If you have any information, please call Suffolk Police on 101 and quote crime reference 37/3027/23. Alternatively, to get in touch anonymously, call the RSPB’s dedicated Raptor Crime Hotline on 0300 999 0101.
ENDS
UPDATE 5pm: Wild Justice also offers £5,000 reward (here)
UPDATE 19th January 2023: Crowdfunder launched to increase reward for information on five shot goshawks found in Suffolk (here)
Yesterday evening, Suffolk Police’s Rural, Wildlife & Heritage Unit posted an appeal on Twitter asking for information about the discovery of five young goshawks, reportedly shot and dumped in the King’s Forest, Suffolk.
The corpses were found on Monday (16th Jan 2023) at the Brandon end of the large car park area off the B1106, North Stow. Police say all five birds were x-rayed and all were found to contain shotgun pellets.
Some idiots from the shooting industry have been complaining on Twitter about what they perceive to be an ‘anti-shooting’ tweet from the police – anything to distract attention away from this disturbing crime, I guess.
One genius is even convinced that the x-ray image provided by the police is actually of a shot parrot and not one of the shot goshawks, despite it being explained to him in very simple terms by a qualified vet (@ThatVetSean) that the word ‘parrot’ appears in the corner of the x-ray image “because it’s a digital x-ray machine & veterinary software with handy preloaded settings enabling the operator to get a quality image in a single go. They’ll have chosen parrot as it’s comparable in size/anatomy, there isn’t a Goshawk setting“.
Well done to Suffolk Police’s Rural, Wildlife & Heritage Unit for issuing an impressively quick appeal for information.
If anyone has any information about who shot and dumped these goshawks, please contact Suffolk Police.
UPDATE 16.o5hrs: Five shot goshawks in Suffolk: RSPB offers £5,ooo reward for information (here)
UPDATE 5pm: Wild Justice also offers £5,000 reward (here)
UPDATE 19th January 2023: Crowdfunder launched to increase reward for information on five shot goshawks found in Suffolk (here)
UPDATE 20th January 2023: Shooting industry ‘offended’ about being asked to help identify the person who shot five goshawks (here)
UPDATE 28th March 2023: Suffolk Police arrest a man in connection with five shot goshawks found in Kings Forest in January (here)
UPDATE 7th June 2023: Man charged in relation to 5 shot goshawks found dumped in a forest carpark in January (here)
Last month, Norfolk gamekeeper Matthew Stroud, 46, of Fengate in Weeting was convicted of multiple offences including:
Three counts of using poisoned bait on or before 19 August 2021 and 14 September 2021.
Six counts of killing a Common Buzzard (a non-Schedule 1 wild bird) at Weeting between 10 August and 14 September 2021.
One count of intentionally killing a Northern Goshawk (a Schedule 1 wild bird) at Weeting on or about 10 August 2021.
One count of possessing a regulated substance – Strychnine Hydrochloride – without a licence on 14 September 2021.
One count of possessing 4 shotguns to kill a Schedule 1 wild bird on 14 September 2021.
One count of releasing 3,400 Common Pheasants into the wild between 1 June and 14 September 2021 contrary to the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.
One count of incorrectly storing a biocidal product – Rentokil Phostoxin – on 14 September 2021 contrary to the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.
Even though Stroud’s crimes easily passed the threshold for a custodial sentence, he received a 12-month Community Order and was ordered to do 200 hours of unpaid work, fined £692 and ordered to pay costs of £145, compensation of £288.72 and a victim surcharge of £95. The court also ordered the forfeiture and destruction of all Stroud’s firearms, mobile phones and any chemicals (see here and here for previous blogs on this).
Stroud’s prosecution and conviction was the result of a well-run multi-agency investigation involving Norfolk Constabulary, Natural England, National Wildlife Crime Unit, Crown Prosecution Service and the RSPB Investigations Team.
Today, the RSPB has published a blog written by RSPB Investigations Officer Tom Grose, reflecting on the investigation and the subsequent sentence. You can read it here. [UPDATE: This link has since broken – the RSPB blog has been copied and pasted at the foot of this blog]
UPDATE 29th June 2023: Another Weeting gamekeeper convicted – Gamekeeper Francis Addison receives suspended jail sentence in relation to five shot goshawks (here)
COPY AND PASTE OF RSPB BLOG:
Reflections on a poisoning, by Tom Grose, RSPB Investigations Officer
On 5 October 2022 gamekeeper Matthew Stroud was convicted of a litany of offences at Norwich Magistrates Court. He pleaded guilty to the killing six buzzards and a goshawk, placing poisoned baits, possession of the banned poison strychnine hydrochloride and the illegal release of gamebirds onto a Special Protection Area (SPA), along with sundry other offences.
Previous cases of this nature have been acknowledged to have crossed the custody threshold by the court (see John Orrey and Allen Lambert). So it was expected that Stroud was facing at the least a suspended prison sentence. The 200-hour community work order and financial penalties totalling £1220 he was given were accompanied by a sense of frustration by those involved in the case, and by shock and outrage by those who learned about it in the media or on social media. Not for the first time….
The long-running investigation that led to Stroud’s prosecution was a shining example of partnership working in action. Initial painstaking fieldwork by RSPB Investigations Officers sparked swift and decisive action by Norfolk Police upon the discovery of a suspected poisoned bait. A combined operation involving the National Wildlife Crime Unit and Natural England alongside the RSPB ensued. A warrant was executed and vital evidence recovered. Then came months of meticulous work involving a long list of dedicated professionals. X-rays, post-mortems, poison testing, feather analysis and police interviews all had to be carried out before the case file could be passed to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and the charges laid. The CPS themselves provided guidance and were of enormous help in the run up to court.
On the day of the hearing itself, the prosecution was able to lay the stark facts of the case before the magistrates. In 2022 a man was jailed for 16 weeks for killing two gulls. So why did Stroud receive far less?
Unfortunately, it seems that the lack of sentencing guidelines available to the courts is at the heart of the matter. We’ve encountered this issue before, with magistrates and judges left without clear principles to follow when deciding how to sentence these relatively rare and complex cases. Each time a raptor killer is in court, it turns into a sentencing lottery. Clearly these guidelines must be put in place to deal with wildlife offences. The killing of so many protected birds, including a Schedule 1 species (the goshawk), and the deliberate use of a banned poison as dangerous as strychnine surely warranted a heavier punishment. This is hardly a deterrent to other wildlife criminals.
Another issue that keeps rearing its head is the lack of any consequences for Stroud’s employers. When a gamekeeper is found to be killing birds of prey it is normally due to pressure to produce enough gamebirds to shoot, and indeed Stroud admitted his motivation was to protect the pheasants in his care. In most other sectors the employer would face repercussions for the actions of staff. This isn’t the case in the English and Welsh shooting industries. Whilst vicarious liability has been introduced into Scotland, we need to see it implemented across the UK.
More positively, Stroud was the first person convicted of illegal gamebird release. The impact of non-native pheasants is poorly understood but of increasing concern. To illegally release them on the Breckland SPA, supposedly an area of international conservation importance, showed a callous disregard for the environment. Alongside the potentially harmful effects of over 60 million gamebirds released into our countryside annually, it’s clear that raptor persecution is a serious issue for lowland shooting.
It’s certainly not the case that raptor persecution is an issue confined to upland grouse moors. Cases like this one (and there are others ongoing), coupled with concerns over the release of non-native gamebirds, are why the RSPB is now calling for greater regulation of large-scale pheasant and partridge shoots. Clearly, self-regulation is not working, and current legislation is not enough. We also call on the courts to make full use of the sentences available to them.
We would like to thank all of those involved in securing this conviction, and particularly PC Chris Shelley of Norfolk Police for his hard work in leading the investigation. Although we are disappointed by the outcome, it has been heartening to work alongside officers and organisations who remain committed to stopping raptor persecution.
Following yesterday’s news that 46-year-old gamekeeper Matthew Stroud had been convicted, amongst other things, of shooting and poisoning at least five buzzards and a goshawk on a pheasant shoot in Norfolk (see here), Norfolk Constabulary has issued a press statement which provides a bit more detail about the case.
[One the buzzards that gamekeeper Matthew Stroud shot dead]
Press release from Norfolk Constabulary:
Gamekeeper admits killing birds of prey
A Weeting gamekeeper appeared in court today (Wednesday 5 October 2022) and admitted shooting and poisoning several birds of prey.
Three counts of using poisoned bait on or before 19 August 2021 and 14 September 2021.
Six counts of killing a Common Buzzard (a non-Schedule 1 wild bird) at Weeting between 10 August and 14 September 2021.
One count of intentionally killing a Northern Goshawk (a Schedule 1 wild bird) at Weeting on or about 10 August 2021.
One count of possessing a regulated substance – Strychnine Hydrochloride – without a licence on 14 September 2021.
One count of possessing 4 shotguns to kill a Schedule 1 wild bird on 14 September 2021.
One count of releasing 3,400 Common Pheasants into the wild between 1 June and 14 September 2021 contrary to the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.
One count of incorrectly storing a biocidal product – Rentokil Phostoxin – on 14 September 2021 contrary to the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.
He received a 12-month Community Order and was ordered to do 200 hours of unpaid work, fined £692 and ordered to pay costs of £145, compensation of £288.72 and a victim surcharge of £95. The court also ordered the forfeiture and destruction of all Stroud’s firearms, mobile phones and any chemicals.
The court heard how the investigation started when RSPB officers found a young pheasant dead in Belvedere Wood, Weeting, on 19 August 2021. Tests later confirmed the pheasant had been poisoned with Strychnine Hydrochloride.
Further intelligence led Norfolk Police to execute a warrant at Stroud’s home, Belvedere Wood and Oisier Carr Wood on 14 September 2021 where the following discoveries were made:
Three dead buzzards were found at two release pens in Oisier Carr Wood. Tests later confirmed they had been shot.
Two pheasant carcasses with extremely high levels of Strychnine Hydrochloride and a poisoned Common Buzzard were found in Belvedere Wood – a Site of Special Scientific Interest because of its internationally important population of Stone Curlews
Two bottles of Strychnine Chloride were found in the glovebox of Stroud’s all-terrain vehicle, and a bottle of Phostoxin discovered by officers in a lean-too style shed attached to his house.
In addition, Stroud’s mobile phone contained photos of a dead Goshawk and five dead Common Buzzards. He later confessed to officers that all the photos were of birds he had killed.
PC Chris Shelley, Norfolk Constabulary’s Rural Crime Officer, said: “This investigation is one of the biggest cases of its kind that we have dealt with in Norfolk.
“Stroud actions were dangerous and inhumane – he shot and poisoned birds of prey as he saw fit, and at will, because it suited him to do so. He also used a highly dangerous poison – one that has been banned in the UK for the last 15 years – indiscriminately, which could have had a disastrous effect on other local wildlife and showed a scant disregard for the safety of others.
“We’re committed to working with all partners to tackle rural crime and have worked closely with colleagues from the RSPB, the National Wildlife Crime Unit and Natural England throughout this investigation. It is because of this close collaboration with them that we have been able to bring this case to court.”
Tom Grose, RSPB Investigations Officer, said: “Laying poison baits out in the open is not only illegal but extremely dangerous and irresponsible. Baits like those being used present a deadly risk to any animal or person that might come across it.
“It is particularly troubling that this was happening on an SPA, a designated area where wildlife and nature should have the highest legal protection.
“We would like to thank Norfolk Police for leading such a thorough investigation, and to Natural England, the National Wildlife Crime Unit and Crown Prosecution Service for their support.”
Ashley Petchey of the Crown Prosecution Service said: “This was a case where Mr Stroud has, whilst in his position as a gamekeeper, killed wild birds by shooting and poisoning. He has also released non-native species into a SSSI.
“The scale of the offences in this case demonstrates the lengths people will go to in order to persecute raptors.
“The Crown take all cases of raptor persecution seriously and where the full code test is met, bring offenders to justice.”
ENDS
UPDATE 4th November 2022: RSPB Investigations Officer reflects on conviction of Norfolk raptor-killing gamekeeper Matthew Stroud (here)
Raptor Persecution UK 