Have you been keeping track of the Raptor Persecution Scotland blog over the last few days?
On Wednesday they posted this blog Mass raptor poisoning in Wales: police cover-up? and then followed up yesterday with this Mass raptor poisoning in Wales: police respond but questions remain.
Fascinating and important stuff – hat-tip to them!
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Mark
Update yesterday from RSPB’s Guy Shurrock https://www.rspb.org.uk/community/ourwork/b/investigations/archive/2016/03/10/xxxxxx.aspx
As per Guy’s last para, nothing since and so trust that lessons learnt by ill-educated purveyors of worst practice.
Best, Rob
Good to read from Guy Shurrock’s blog that the crime was thoroughly investigated and it’s understandable, if deeply disappointing, that it didn’t go any further. What I can’t understand – and this is the essence of the charge that there was a ‘cover-up’ which remains unanswered – is why there wasn’t any sort of public appeal or warning at the time, why no statement was made about the case (until pushed) and why, even now, the estate hasn’t been named. This first may have uncovered more evidence or at least warned dog walkers to be careful. The second seems naive as the remarkable cluster of cases would have been noticed (as it has) at some point and thereby raising difficult questions. The last would have put additional pressure on the estate and would have added to the pressure for vicarious liability. Blackmail and kidnapping aside, I can think of no other criminal activity where the authorities regularly seem to be so reluctant to avail themselves of free publicity.
I have no reason to doubt Guy Shorrock’s account of events or his assurance that the police investigated the poisonings thoroughly and and appropriately. It is sad that a prosecution was not possible but we all understand that cases such as these present great difficulties in terms of assembling sufficient evidence to enable a successful prosecution of an individual. So, I accept: no cover-up in the sense of evidence of the crime being tampered with, ignored or in any other way not properly investigated. However, if I understand the Raptor Persecution Scotland piece properly, that is not the nature of their allegation; the question they have raised is why was this mass poisoning not publicly reported by the police? For a series of crimes as significant as this that does seem to be a very pertinent question as it would surely have been in the public interest to report it and failure to do so does look very much like a cover up.
Surely however it should be a matter of public record where the crimes took place? Then everyone can join the dots.
I smell a huge bloody rat.
the police are not really that interested mainly due to the fact that half of them have outside interests such as hunting or shooting and as for the RSPB they seem to sit on the fence far too often.
It is just right royally depressing that everyone seems to be able to guess the estate, but are all too politic to say. It is like a nanny has gone made with the silencing. I think they are just being too conservative about the whole thing.
I sounds like the name will be emerging Random22, but the facts, necessarily, are being checked fastidiously. To quote Raptor Persecution Scotland (in relation to whether a coverup has taken place);
‘We’re not yet in a position to publish that estate name because we need to verify a few things first. But OH MY GOD. If it does turn out to be this estate, you’ll not struggle to put two and two together.’