ARTICLE FROM THE SCOTSMAN NEWSPAPER
Thu 5 Sep 2002
A THIEF who took eggs from some of the rarest birds in Scotland and was described as a "serious threat to British wildlife" has been jailed for six months.
In a landmark case , Carlton D’Cruze, 41, was given the maximum term prescribed for his illegal actions.
D’Cruze’s "obsession" with stealing eggs spanned a 15-year period, during which he targeted rare birds such as the osprey, white-tailed eagle and the golden eagle at nesting sites on Mull, in the Cairngorms, the Highlands, Orkney, Grampian, Tayside and other locations across England and Wales.
South Sefton Magistrates Court, in Merseyside, heard how RSPB officials who raided his home in March said the seizure was one of the most important in the last 20 years.
D’Cruze, from Thornton, Merseyside, pleaded guilty to 13 offences under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 when he appeared in court in July.
The unemployed father of two admitted taking clutches of avocet and marsh harrier eggs from Norfolk and further possessing 453 eggs from species including the peregrine falcon, re-throated diver, little tern and osprey - of which there are only 20 territorial pairs in Scotland.
D’Cruze remained impassive as the chairman of the bench, Mrs Val Jarvis, told him: "The offences are so serious that only a custodial sentence can be justified. Evidence is of a large collection over a long period of time, you were well aware of what you were doing and the likely impact on wildlife."
RSPB officials and Merseyside Police’s wildlife liaison officer later welcomed the sentence, saying it was the longest passed on an egg collector and sent out a clear message that society no longer accepted such behaviour.
During the hearing, Paula Grogan, for the Crown Prosecution Service, told the bench that D’Cruze’s case was one of the most serious and significant to come before the court since the act under which he was charged was established.
She revealed how police and RSPB officials forced entry into his home in March this year where they found D’Cruze "in the process of smashing up birds’ eggs" and destroying documents. The court heard that among the paperwork recovered by officers was a notebook containing a "graphic and rather harrowing account" of how a female eagle broke one of her own eggs in a desperate attempt to defend the clutch during a midnight raid on her nest.
D’Cruze describes the eagle’s distress during the raid on the nest in Oban in March 1995: "When only half way, she started screeching and clapping her wings up and down on the edge of the eyrie, X stopped and asked if he should withdraw, I told him to go for it, so he proceeded up the tree.
"On reaching the eyrie, she had not left - in fact she’d gotten worse, X shouted to me that he could not get her off, I called up to him to remove a branch from the eyrie and ease her off. After a few minutes she decamped and X was able to reach in, only to find the eagle had broken the second egg and so we left it, hoping she would continue to incubate it, both disappointed we had a long walk back."
Miss Grogan told the court that the discovery of six clutches of osprey eggs during the operation was "unprecedented", according to the RSPB.
At D’Cruze’s home, police also found hundreds of maps, details of nesting sites and information on future raids, as well as documentation which led to police raids across the country, with one Coventry collector jailed for four months as a direct result.
The defence lawyer, Daniel Dennis, said his client had a hobby which had turned into an obsession and it was that obsession which had brought him before the courts.
Dave Dick, the senior investigations officer with RSPB Scotland, who was part of the team that raided D’Cruze’s house in Merseyside, said: "We have had four clutches of sea eagle eggs taken since the birds were reintroduced in 1975. There are only 20 pairs left and the reason they became extinct last time was because of people like this.
"Species like osprey have been plagued by egg collectors, with over a hundred clutches taken since they colonised Scotland in the early 1950s."
He added: "We are delighted by the outcome of this case, not because somebody is going to jail but because of the deterrent effect this should have.
"People who are doing this sort of thing will now know that they will eventually get caught, and this sentence sends out a clear message that such offences will not be tolerated."
Adam Harper, a spokesman for RSPB Scotland, said: "The RSPB Scotland consider him one of the most prolific egg thieves in the UK. His history with egg theft and his targeting of the country’s most charismatic and rare birds is the worst we have ever come across.
"What we would like to see now is the same kind of punishment afforded to people who deliberately poison these birds."
BRING BACK FLOGGING:t: :t:
steve
Thu 5 Sep 2002
A THIEF who took eggs from some of the rarest birds in Scotland and was described as a "serious threat to British wildlife" has been jailed for six months.
In a landmark case , Carlton D’Cruze, 41, was given the maximum term prescribed for his illegal actions.
D’Cruze’s "obsession" with stealing eggs spanned a 15-year period, during which he targeted rare birds such as the osprey, white-tailed eagle and the golden eagle at nesting sites on Mull, in the Cairngorms, the Highlands, Orkney, Grampian, Tayside and other locations across England and Wales.
South Sefton Magistrates Court, in Merseyside, heard how RSPB officials who raided his home in March said the seizure was one of the most important in the last 20 years.
D’Cruze, from Thornton, Merseyside, pleaded guilty to 13 offences under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 when he appeared in court in July.
The unemployed father of two admitted taking clutches of avocet and marsh harrier eggs from Norfolk and further possessing 453 eggs from species including the peregrine falcon, re-throated diver, little tern and osprey - of which there are only 20 territorial pairs in Scotland.
D’Cruze remained impassive as the chairman of the bench, Mrs Val Jarvis, told him: "The offences are so serious that only a custodial sentence can be justified. Evidence is of a large collection over a long period of time, you were well aware of what you were doing and the likely impact on wildlife."
RSPB officials and Merseyside Police’s wildlife liaison officer later welcomed the sentence, saying it was the longest passed on an egg collector and sent out a clear message that society no longer accepted such behaviour.
During the hearing, Paula Grogan, for the Crown Prosecution Service, told the bench that D’Cruze’s case was one of the most serious and significant to come before the court since the act under which he was charged was established.
She revealed how police and RSPB officials forced entry into his home in March this year where they found D’Cruze "in the process of smashing up birds’ eggs" and destroying documents. The court heard that among the paperwork recovered by officers was a notebook containing a "graphic and rather harrowing account" of how a female eagle broke one of her own eggs in a desperate attempt to defend the clutch during a midnight raid on her nest.
D’Cruze describes the eagle’s distress during the raid on the nest in Oban in March 1995: "When only half way, she started screeching and clapping her wings up and down on the edge of the eyrie, X stopped and asked if he should withdraw, I told him to go for it, so he proceeded up the tree.
"On reaching the eyrie, she had not left - in fact she’d gotten worse, X shouted to me that he could not get her off, I called up to him to remove a branch from the eyrie and ease her off. After a few minutes she decamped and X was able to reach in, only to find the eagle had broken the second egg and so we left it, hoping she would continue to incubate it, both disappointed we had a long walk back."
Miss Grogan told the court that the discovery of six clutches of osprey eggs during the operation was "unprecedented", according to the RSPB.
At D’Cruze’s home, police also found hundreds of maps, details of nesting sites and information on future raids, as well as documentation which led to police raids across the country, with one Coventry collector jailed for four months as a direct result.
The defence lawyer, Daniel Dennis, said his client had a hobby which had turned into an obsession and it was that obsession which had brought him before the courts.
Dave Dick, the senior investigations officer with RSPB Scotland, who was part of the team that raided D’Cruze’s house in Merseyside, said: "We have had four clutches of sea eagle eggs taken since the birds were reintroduced in 1975. There are only 20 pairs left and the reason they became extinct last time was because of people like this.
"Species like osprey have been plagued by egg collectors, with over a hundred clutches taken since they colonised Scotland in the early 1950s."
He added: "We are delighted by the outcome of this case, not because somebody is going to jail but because of the deterrent effect this should have.
"People who are doing this sort of thing will now know that they will eventually get caught, and this sentence sends out a clear message that such offences will not be tolerated."
Adam Harper, a spokesman for RSPB Scotland, said: "The RSPB Scotland consider him one of the most prolific egg thieves in the UK. His history with egg theft and his targeting of the country’s most charismatic and rare birds is the worst we have ever come across.
"What we would like to see now is the same kind of punishment afforded to people who deliberately poison these birds."
BRING BACK FLOGGING:t: :t:
steve
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