Gamekeeper’s poison panic

Sep 28 2007 by Dave Black, The Journal

A GAMEKEEPER involved in a road accident panicked and tried to dispose of a banned and highly poisonous pesticide in his Land Rover by throwing it away, a court heard yesterday.

Richard McMorn, 48, took a coffee jar containing the “exceptionally toxic” Yaltox powder from his damaged vehicle and hurled it into nearby undergrowth in an attempt to avoid it being discovered.

He was spotted by witnesses to the collision who retrieved the jar from the roadside and handed it over to police traffic officers – sparking a joint investigation by the Northumbria Police wildlife crime unit, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) and Natural England.

The probe was launched because of suspicion that the deadly pesticide – banned from use in Britain by EU directive since 2001 because of its high toxicity – could be used to poison and kill wildlife.

A search warrant was executed at McMorn’s home and business premises, where he led investigators to a nearby pheasant pen and showed them a glass jar containing a second illegal pesticide, Cymag, which was banned by the EU in 2004.

In a cupboard inside his home, they also discovered a container of another pesticide, Phostoxin, which was being kept in clear contravention of rules governing its safe storage, Berwick magistrates were told.

Yesterday McMorn, a self-employed gamekeeper and deer stalker, of Ancroft Town Farm, near Berwick, was fined £600 with £70 costs after admitting four offences relating to the illegal possession and storage of pesticides.

Magistrates told him that his actions in throwing the banned pesticide into the undergrowth could have had “dire consequences”.

The charges, brought under the Food and Environment Protection Act 1985 and the Control of Pesticide Regulations Act 1986, followed the road accident involving McMorn’s Land Rover and another vehicle at Scremerston near Berwick in June this year.

Yesterday the RSPB said Government records show that carbofuran, an active ingredient in Yaltox, is the most regularly abused pesticide for the illegal poisoning of UK wildlife, and has featured in around 30% of all cases in the last 10 years.

James Long, prosecuting, said McMorn had broken laws relating to the use and storage of deadly pesticides, which were in place to ensure public safety.

He said the poison Yaltox could lead to a painful and gruesome death, while Cymag gave off highly toxic gases and was said to have been responsible for the deaths of numerous people over the years.

Ian O’Rourke, defending, said the investigation had found no evidence that any of the toxins had been used by McMorn to poison wildlife.