A 65-year-old north Norfolk gamekeeper has today been given a suspended prison sentence for killing 12 wild birds and for possessing banned poisons.
Allen Lambert, of Stody Estate, a mixed farm in Melton Constable, was charged with seven wildlife offences including the killing of 11 buzzards and one sparrowhawk and for possessing and storing banned poisons and pesticides including Mevinphos and Aldicarb.
He was also charged with failing to comply with a firearms certificate, possession of nine dead buzzards and for breaking the plant protection regulations - offences which he pleaded guilty to at a previous appearance in December 2013.
Lambert was sentenced at Norwich Magistrates’ Court to 10 weeks in prison, suspended for 12 months, ordered to pay costs of £930 and a victim surcharge of £80.
Guy Shorrock, a senior investigations officer with the RSPB, said: “I’ve been investigating wildlife crime for over 20 years and this is one of the worst cases I have dealt with.
“Finding the carcases of nine poisoned buzzards in a bag at Lambert’s home was truly dreadful.”
Mr Shorrock said this was part of a wider national problem and they were calling on the government to bring in stronger legislation to make sporting estates more accountable for the actions of their staff.
An investigation was launched in April 2013 by Norfolk Constabulary, assisted by the National Wildlife Crime Unit, Natural England and the RSPB, when illegal pesticides and dead buzzards were discovered on the Stody Estate.
DC Richard Moden, from Norfolk Constabulary, said the force would not tolerate such behaviour.
Lambert was arrested and later charged on December 4, 2013 with seven wildlife offences committed between January 1 and April 4, 2013.
A spokesman for the National Gamekeepers’ Organisation (NGO) said: “The NGO stands for game keeping within the law.
“But the selfish, stupid actions of one man – who was not and never has been a member of the NGO – must not be used to tarnish the good name of game keeping, which does so much for the countryside and its wildlife.”
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