‘Prince of Poachers’ avoids jail after firearms offences

DEER poacher James Kennedy evaded a prison sentence this week – but with a sheriff’s warning ringing in his ears that he was not above the law.

At the town’s sheriff court last month, Kennedy, 72, of Fort William’s Achintore Road, admitted possessing a rifle and sound moderator without a firearms certificate, along with 22 cartridges of a type banned, at Drumfada, Glen Loy, on November 2 last year.

Nicknamed the ‘Prince of Poachers’ in the national media, Kennedy, who has been jailed for poaching in the past, committed the offences just weeks after a sheriff stripped him of his firearms licence.

The gun licence forfeiture followed Kennedy’s conviction in 2015 for deer poaching, which saw him become the first person to be convicted of the offence as a result of DNA testing.

On the latest offences, fiscal depute Robert Weir told the court this week how Kennedy had been spotted on the day in question in November last year on an area of moorland by a number of witnesses and recognised.

‘One was using binoculars and could see what appeared to be a rifle slung over his [Kennedy’s] back,’ said Mr Weir.

Police were alerted and, later the same day, officers scoured the area where Kennedy was seen, finding a black corrugated pipe about five feet long.

The end had been sealed with silicone and inside officers found a rifle, cleaning rod, a towel, ammunition and a sound moderator.

Police detained Kennedy the following day on suspicion of a number of offences.

The fiscal said Kennedy had told officers: ‘I don’t have a firearms licence – you took it off me.’

But again it was DNA testing that led to Kennedy’s downfall when swabs analysed by a laboratory linked Kennedy to a number of items recovered from the pipe.

Defence agent Hamish Melrose told the court that over the several months he had contact with Kennedy, his client’s passion for deer and deer preservation had come across very strongly.

A number of character references had been submitted on behalf of Kennedy and Mr Melrose also flagged up the large amount of community work his client was well-known for.

However, Mr Melrose added: ‘The loss of his firearms certificate had a huge impact on Mr Kennedy, particularly his lifelong passion for deer preservation, and it is a passion he was not able to give up and he is now before the court today.’

One particular character reference described this passion as Kennedy’s ‘Achilles’ heel’ and said it had led to his ultimate downfall and that Kennedy held the belief that, as a Highlander, he should be free to roam in pursuit of deer.

Sentencing Kennedy to 200 hours of unpaid voluntary work, Sheriff Eilidh MacDonald said some of the information placed before her on this matter seemed to have an ‘overwhelming sense’ that Kennedy was not a real criminal and just ‘a Highland gentleman doing what Highland gentlemen do’.

‘But thousands of people live in the Highlands and behave and do not do these things,’ she said.

‘Despite your conviction in 2015 you have carried on regardless. But the law of Scotland applies to everybody, Mr Kennedy – and you are not above the law.’

The sheriff said she had taken into account everything Mr Melrose had said, all the character references and the great contribution he had made to the community in coming to a decision on sentencing. But she warned the pensioner: ‘I consider this case can be dealt with by a community payback order. But these are very serious offences – you had a weapon and ammunition when you were not allowed to do so. This community payback order is a direct alternative to imprisonment.’