Fifth three year old prison officer Keith Liddell from Inverness has been convicted of illegal trading in birds eggs and given 220 hours community service.
RSPB Scotland has welcomed the victory against wildlife crime in the conviction of a man guilty of the trading of eggs of some of Europe’s rarest birds.
At an earlier hearing, Liddell had pled guilty to eleven charges relating to the trading, or offering to trade, in eggs of a number of protected or threatened species, including Griffon vulture, Egyptian Vulture and lesser kestrel.
He had also pled guilty to two charges of unlawful possession of 338 eggs including a number of Scottish rare breeding birds, such as Slavonian grebe, black-throated diver, osprey and many others.
Police who raided his house found over 2,300 eggs.
Five days into his trial, Liddell changed his plea to guilty, in a case described as unusual because he traded with other collectors rather than collect eggs himself.
In sentencing Liddell, Sheriff Gordon Fleetwood said: ‘This is a direct alternative to prison…I have to take into account the number of and seriousness of the charges and that you were aware that your activities were criminal…and balance that with your previous good character.’
Speaking after Mr Liddell was sentenced, Ian Thomson, Head of Investigations at RSPB Scotland said: ‘Mr Liddell is very fortunate to have escaped a jail sentence. Although he has not been convicted of taking birds eggs from the wild, the trading activity in which Mr Liddell was engaged obviously perpetuates such crimes, posing a significant threat to rare breeding birds not just in Scotland, but further afield.
‘This has been one of the most complex enquiries in which the RSPB Investigations team has been involved. I would like to acknowledge the efforts made by officers in the former Northern Constabulary, notably PC Aros Mathieson, and particularly the tenacity of the specialist wildlife procurator fiscal, Kate Fleming in securing this conviction’.
This case formed part of one of the largest ever egg-trading enquiries in the UK.
An associate of Liddell, Andrew Seed, was convicted for similar offences in County Durham in 2010.
The investigation revealed a network of individuals using the internet and email to arrange swapping and purchasing of the eggs of protected birds, with international connections to Scandinavia, the US and Australia.
Three men are under investigation in Sweden following the seizure of 6,000 eggs, while in Finland, over 10,000 eggs were seized from another individual.
Liddell had 2,307 eggs in his home – and data cards kept with the collection indicated that some had been taken from the wild as recently as 2007.
