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Gamekeeper pleaded guilty to dumping goshawks in Suffolk forest

Shaun Whitmore/BBC Francis AddisonShaun Whitmore/BBC
Francis Addison was given a suspended sentence after he admitted dumping protected bird of prey carcasses

A part-time gamekeeper has been given a 12-week suspended prison term after he admitted dumping five birds of prey.

The goshawk carcasses were found in January in King's Forest parking area off the B1106 near Wordwell, Suffolk.

Francis Addison, 72, from South Park in Weeting, near Thetford, Norfolk, pleaded guilty to a total of 19 charges at Norwich Magistrates' Court.

These included possession of dead birds, breaching firearms licence offences and using an animal trap.

In mitigation, Lisa Robinson told the court his dog came across the birds of prey piled up while they were out for a walk.

He put them in a bag and took them home, intending to take them to the British Trust for Ornithology.

RSPB GoshawkRSPB
The goshawk is a secretive bird of prey that kills pigeons and squirrels - and is also known to eat game birds on shooting estates

When a friend told him it was illegal to have the birds, alive or dead, he returned them to where he had found them.

She told to court he would never take part in the killing of goshawks and liked to watch them.

Ms Robinson said he took the birds from where he found them and then returned them to the same spot.

Anderson was given an 12-week prison sentence suspended for a year and ordered to pay £1,200 in compensation and costs.

Tom Grose, investigations officer with the RSPB charity, said removing five from the population was significant.

"The death of five goshawks is a particularly serious matter. The species was once wiped out in this country and it's still struggling to re-establish itself," he said.

The species was close to extinction in the UK in the late 19th Century, before seeing a resurgence in the 1960s.

Suffolk Police X-ray of shot goshawkSuffolk Police
Wildlife police officers appealed directly to the shooting community after the birds were X-rayed and found to contain shot

Known as the "phantoms of the forest", goshawks are similar to sparrowhawks but much larger, with females appearing as big as buzzards.

The secretive birds of prey, which nest in forests and woods, are protected in the UK under the 1981 Wildlife and Countryside Act.

Addison pleaded guilty to 10 counts of firearms licence breach, five counts of possession of a dead wild bird, two for use of an animal trap in unapproved circumstance and two for killing or attempting to kill a wild bird.

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