Packham’s fury after court case thrown out

Wildlife campaigner Chris Packham has accused Scottish authorities of inconsistency after prosecutors dropped charges against a former gamekeeper accused of illegally shooting a bird of prey.

RSPB Scotland said one of its cameras at Cabrach in Moray recorded evidence suggesting that a hen harrier had been illegally killed in June 2013.

The camera was monitoring the active nest of a breeding pair of hen harriers on the Cabrach Estate, but the Crown Office said the evidence would not be admissible in court.

RSPB Scotland said RSPB video evidence has been used in the successful prosecution of previous wildlife crime cases in Scotland, and Packham said deeming this evidence inadmissible shows a “lack of consistency”.

The Springwatch presenter, who said he is “very angry” about the situation, told the Press Association: “I would also like to strike a contrast between evidence of this nature and evidence in other aspects of our lives.

“Imagine a camera had been set up in mine or your back garden to record foxes, because we feed them there.

“And for some bizarre reason – this is entirely hypothetical nonsense – but what we catch are some people building a terrorist device on our camera. Would that be admissible in court do you think? I imagine it would.”

A Crown Office spokesman said: “The Crown has consistently made it clear that strict legal tests must be met before evidence which has been obtained irregularly, such as the evidence in this case, is admissible.”

Chris Packham.