Wildlife lover cleared of birds and eggs charges

Oct 16 2008 by Sam Wood, The Journal

A WILDLIFE lover walked free from court yesterday after a jury found him not guilty of illegally buying protected eggs and stuffed birds.

John Dodsworth, of Rodin Avenue, Whitleas, South Shields, was on trial at Newcastle Crown Court, charged with three counts of buying protected specimens.

A police raid at his home two years go uncovered 1,296 eggs of various species.

They included two Golden Eagle eggs, two Honey Buzzard eggs and four Egyptian Vulture eggs.

Golden Eagles are the most endangered bird of prey in the British Isles, with only around 12 breeding pairs. Honey Buzzards and Egyptian Vultures are also endangered. The raid also found four stuffed owls, a Montagu’s Harrier, a Marsh Harrier and Honey Buzzard.

Those are all species which come under the highest level of protection under European legislation, meaning it is illegal to buy their eggs or stuffed animals.

One of the charges related to the purchase of the stuffed Montagu’s Harrier, which Mr Dodsworth admitted buying but said he had purchased before 1997, when it became illegal to do so. The jury found him not guilty of that count on Tuesday night before retiring to consider the other charges, which related to the purchase of the eggs of the endangered birds and the stuffed owls.

Peter Walsh, defending, had previously told the court that Mr Dodsworth had paid £600 for a Victorian cabinet, and the eggs were left in one of the drawers for free.

Mr Walsh said: “In some ways this is the world of the anorak man. After Dodsworth was taken in for questioning, he gave full and candid explanations for why he had the eggs. The prosecution must prove beyond reasonable doubt that he was buying the eggs and not the cabinet.”

The jury took just over three hours to reach their verdicts of not guilty on both outstanding counts.

After the verdict Mr Dodsworth said he was angry with the way the case had been handled: “My house was raided by 10 police officers wearing riot gear, who broke into my home.”

He said his wife and daughter had been terrified by the situation.

He added: “I am just somebody who has more than an average interest in wildlife. I find it fascinating.”

Guy Sharrock, chief investigator for the RSPB, called for a change in the law following the verdict. “We will be petitioning the Government to tie up the loophole which exists. These species are very rare and they need to be protected from people trading in their eggs.”

Mr Dodsworth was given a conditional discharge after earlier pleading guilty to charges relating to the purchase of the stuffed Honey Buzzard and Marsh Harrier.