Seagull killed after it tried to steal chips

CHILDREN watched in horror as a man killed a seagull when it tried to steal his chips, a court heard.

John Llewellyn-Jones, 64, ‘smashed’ the bird against a wall after it flew around him and he dropped his food.

He grabbed the bird by its leg and killed it in a ‘despicable’ act of cruelty in front of other visitors to Weston-superMare, Somerset, in July 2018.

He denied breaching the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, under which the birds are a protected species, but was found guilty at North Somerset Magistrates’ Court. Magistrates said two witnesses were ‘credible and compelling’.

Llewellyn- Jones, from Cardiff, was given a 12-week curfew between the hours of 8pm and 8am and pay costs of £750 and an £85 victim surcharge.

RSPCA inspector Simon Evans said: ‘He cared more for his chips than what he did to the gull. This was an unthinkable and despicable way to treat an animal.

‘The gull was smashed against a wall by the man... and bystanders, including children, had to look on.’