Sponsored by
Towcester man jailed over falcon egg theft
A FORMER soldier from Towcester has been jailed for 30 months after admitting taking 14 rare eggs and attempting to smuggle them to Dubai.
Jeffrey Lendrum, 48, was caught with the peregrine falcon eggs - worth 70,000 - strapped to his body at Birmingham International Airport in May. He had wrapped the eggs in socks and taped them to his chest.
Yesterday Lendrum, of York Close, admitted one count of trying to export the eggs illegally and a second charge of stealing them from a nest in South Wales.
Warwick Crown Court heard the 14 eggs were destined for falconries in Dubai, where breeders will pay thousands of pounds on the black market for eggs snatched from the wild.
He was caught after a cleaner working in the Emirates business class lounge at Birmingham International Airport spotted him dashing in and out of the shower.
When she went to investigate she found the shower had not been used and called counter-terrorist officers.
The court heard there were only 1,400 breeding pairs of peregrine falcons in the UK and the birds were regarded as one of the most endangered species.
Eleven of the eggs were successfully hatched and the highly protected chicks released back into the wild.
Lendrum, a former member of the Rhodesian SAS, had previous convictions in Zimbabwe and Canada for stealing rare eggs and had on one occasion abseiled from a helicopter to reach a remote nest.
Jailing Lendrum, Judge Christopher Hodson said: "These were eggs you had removed from the wild in Wales and you would have reduced the number of these high-level endangered species in the wild, birds which enhance the attraction of the countryside to all.
"I quote the words of a Lord Justice of Appeal when he says, 'environmental crime, if established, strikes not only at a locality and its population but in some measure to the planet and its future. Nobody should be allowed to doubt its seriousness or to forget that one side of the environmental story is always untold'.
"I adopt these words to express the gravity of what you did.
"You have had two previous warnings of the consequences of dealing with wild protected birds and now you have come to the UK and offended.
"These offences plainly pass the custody threshold, and pass it by a long way."
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Buckingham
Monday 13 February 2012
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: 2 C to 7 C
Wind Speed: 20 mph
Wind direction: North west
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 4 C to 7 C
Wind Speed: 16 mph
Wind direction: North west
