Man who baited birds of prey with rat poison in landowner feud sentenced
Clive Burgoyne, 38, of Forfar in Angus, left four pheasant carcasses gutted and filled with rat poison as part of an ongoing feud with a neighbouring landowner over shooting rights.
He hoped his actions would cause reputational damage to the Guynd estate near Arbroath, Angus, according to prosecutors.
At Forfar Sheriff Court on April 22, Burgoyne pleaded guilty to a breach of wildlife legislation between January and February 2023.
The court heard he left four pheasant carcasses coated in rodenticide which would cause haemorrhaging, in a bid to harm birds of prey.
On Thursday at the same court, he was given a community payback order and 135 hours of unpaid work to be completed within 12 months, the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) said.
Prosecutors said he put birds of prey 'at risk of injury or death' using a known rat poison which can kill a bird of prey in a single feed.
Prosecutors told how witnesses saw Burgoyne in the front passenger seat of a car travelling towards, and later away, from the Guynd estate on the morning of February 3, 2023.
A short time later, an estate worker discovered a dead pheasant on a footpath within the estate, COPFS said.
The breast had been removed and the bird was covered in a quantity of grain and seed which was then coated in a bright blue liquid.
A further search of the area revealed three more dead pheasants nearby which had been similarly cut open and treated, according to COPFS.
Analysis carried out by officials at the Science and Advice for Scottish Agriculture confirmed the blue grain was a known rodenticide formulation.
They believed the appearance of the pheasant carcasses suggested they had been prepared and set out with the intention of causing harm to birds.
After being arrested, a sample of Burgoyne's DNA was found on all four of the dead birds.
Iain Batho, who leads on wildlife and environmental crime at COPFS, said: 'It is highly important to preserve Scotland's natural heritage, including the wildlife that forms part of it.
'As such, wild birds are given strict protection by our law.
'Clive Burgoyne's reckless actions put various wildlife, particularly birds of prey, at risk of injury and death.
'COPFS takes offences under the Wildlife and Countryside Act seriously and will prosecute individuals where there is sufficient evidence of a crime and where it is in the public interest to do so.
'The result in this case is a testament to the collaborative working between COPFS, Police Scotland, and Science and Advice for Scottish Agriculture, who in this case were able to provide vital forensic evidence.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Yahoo
Michael Harvey: Man who attempted to murder woman while on date in Glasgow jailed for nine years
A man who attempted to murder a woman while on a date has been jailed for nine years. Michael Harvey, 32, was captured on CCTV brutally assaulting his then partner in Glasgow city centre in 2023. The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) said the vicious assault left the woman in an induced coma suffering from severe head injuries. At the High Court in , judge Lord Colbeck said the victim impact statement set out the "devastating consequences" of the violence. He stated: "As a result of your attacks upon her, [the victim] suffered life-changing severe injuries, permanent impairment and permanent disfigurement." COPFS said prosecutors were able to demonstrate Harvey's "savagery and duplicity" with video and audio recordings that showed how he subjected the woman to an "ordeal spanning several hours". The assault was captured on CCTV, which included the woman having her head hit against a bus stop and being dragged along the ground, causing her to lose consciousness. Harvey was also filmed shouting aggressively and gesticulating wildly at the victim over the course of the night out. Despite being taken to Glasgow Royal Infirmary following the initial attack, Lord Colbeck noted how the victim left the hospital without being seen by medics. In the early hours of the morning of 1 October 2023, hotel footage showed Harvey carrying the badly injured victim towards a room they had booked, where once again she was attacked until she lost consciousness. Harvey, from Cambuslang in South Lanarkshire, was later recorded in a call to the Scottish Ambulance Service and can be heard pretending the woman had fallen in the shower. Lord Colbeck stated: "Lying to others about what had happened to [the victim] was calculating and self-serving." Read more from Sky News: Harvey denied any wrongdoing but was last month found guilty of two charges - assault to severe injury, permanent disfigurement, impairment, danger to life and attempted murder; and attempting to defeat the ends of justice. Lord Colbeck noted Harvey's lengthy criminal record, which comprised 26 previous convictions and two custodial sentences. He was also found to be the subject of a community payback order (CPO) at the time of his attack. The judge stated: "None of your previous convictions involve similar offending to that now before the court - the current offences being a marked escalation in your offending behaviour." Harvey was sentenced to nine years in jail and banned from contacting his victim when he returned to the dock on Friday. Prosecutor Moira Orr, the national lead for homicide and major crime at COPFS, said: "Over the course of an evening, Michael Harvey used appalling violence and threats to exert brutal control over a woman who had gone on a date with him. "CCTV enabled our prosecutors to share significant evidence of his brutality and threatening behaviour which was exhibited in public view as well as in private. "Our thoughts are with the woman who has suffered such terrible trauma and injuries but whose bravery has contributed so much to this prosecution. "Violence against women and girls is a blight on our society. As this case shows, abuse can go on in plain sight as well as behind closed doors. We must all be vigilant."
Yahoo
27-06-2025
- Yahoo
Soldier who raped woman he met on dating app has sentence increased
An army officer who raped a woman he met on a dating app has had his prison sentence increased following a Crown appeal. Calum MacGregor, 30, sexually assaulted and raped his victim in her home in December 2021. He was originally jailed for four-and-a-half years after being found guilty at the High Court in Edinburgh earlier this year. However, the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) appealed against the sentence on the basis it was 'unduly lenient' given the serious nature of the offence. COPFS asked the Appeal Court to consider imposing a longer custodial term. On Friday, it was announced that the appeal has been upheld by a panel of three judges at the Appeal Court and that MacGregor's original sentence has been quashed. The soldier will now serve six years and six months in custody. Laura Buchan, deputy crown agent, said: 'Prosecutors have a responsibility to consider appeals based upon undue leniency in sentencing. Such appeals are rare. 'Today's decision to increase Calum MacGregor's sentence for rape provides public reassurance that the impact of sexual offences on victims will be acknowledged by those in the criminal justice system.' COPFS explained that for an appeal to be upheld a sentence must be unduly lenient, meaning it falls outside the range of sentences a judge could 'reasonably' have considered appropriate, having taken all relevant factors into account. It added that while sentencing is 'rightfully' the domain of judges, the Crown is allowed to appeal in limited circumstances to ensure the 'balance of justice' is served. In their ruling, published on Friday, the Appeal Court judges said they were 'not convinced that the sentencing judge applied her mind to all relevant factors'. The ruling said: 'In all the circumstances, even allowing for mitigating circumstances, a sentence of imprisonment for four years and six months was unduly lenient. The judges added that they would 'impose a sentence of imprisonment for six years and six months. As before, sentence is backdated to January 30 2025'.
Yahoo
05-06-2025
- Yahoo
Four men jailed over ‘egregious' NHS bribery and corruption offences
Four men convicted of bribery and corrupt practices over the awarding of NHS contracts worth £6 million have been jailed. Alan Hush, 68, Adam Sharoudi, 41, Gavin Brown, 48, and Gavin Cox, 60, were convicted following a trial at the High Court in Glasgow which followed an investigation at health boards across Scotland. The offences, which took place between 2010 and 2017, included bribery, corruption, and other offences under the Proceeds of Crime Act. Hush and Sharoudi were additionally convicted of charges of fraud. Sharoudi and Brown, directors of Ayrshire-based telecommunications firm Oricom Ltd, were jailed for eight years and seven years respectively when they were sentenced at the court on Thursday, the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) said. Hush, who was telecommunications manager at NHS Lothian, was sentenced to eight years in jail, while Cox, who was head of IT and infrastructure at NHS Lanarkshire, was jailed for six years. In a sentencing statement later published online, Lord Arthurson said: 'The public are entitled to expect that their fellow citizens will not seek to subvert public officials in the diligent exercise of their duties, and public officials in their turn should know that succumbing to bribery will result in the handing down by the court of immediate and significant custodial terms. 'The reach and character of the corruption and in particular the corrupt relationships engaged in by all of you, when considered as a whole, was on a grand scale.' The trial at the High Court in Glasgow lasted 65 days. Sineidin Corrins, deputy procurator fiscal for specialist casework at COPFS, said: 'This is an outstanding result for justice in Scotland. 'As prosecutors, we have shown an unwavering commitment to pursuing and investigating this matter. This was a betrayal of public trust. 'These four men colluded to create a sophisticated criminal scheme. The public will rightly be shocked by the scale of their criminality. At the High Court in Glasgow, Lord Arthurson sentenced Alan Hush, Gavin Cox, Adam Sharoudi & Gavin Brown to imprisonment for bribery and proceeds of crime offences. Hush received 8 years' imprisonment, Cox 6 years, Sharoudi 8 years, and Brown 7 years. — Judges Scotland (@JudgesScotland) June 5, 2025 'The scale of this offending against our public health service is particularly egregious. 'The systematic abuse of position by public officials, who accepted inappropriate benefits including cash, holidays and entertainment in exchange for contract advantages, strikes at the heart of public trust. 'It serves as a reminder that procurement processes exist to ensure fair competition and value for public money. When these processes are corrupted, all of society bears the cost. 'The prosecutorial journey has been complex and demanding. It required forensic examination of thousands of documents, hundreds of witness statements, and detailed financial analyses to establish the full extent of this criminal activity. 'The digital evidence, particularly text messages and emails exchanged between the accused, proved pivotal in exposing the true nature of these arrangements. 'This was a meticulous investigation and one which reflects the enduring partnership working between specialist Crown Office prosecutors, NHS Counter Fraud Services and Police Scotland, who worked tirelessly over many years. 'Their unflinching dedication to serving the interests of justice, regardless of complexity or duration, deserves recognition.' The four men will now be subject to confiscation action under proceeds of crime legislation to recover monies illegally obtained. Brown and Sharoudi were also banned from being company directors for 10 years.
