Special prosecutors tackle wildlife crime

I was concerned to read the quotes attributed to Ian Thomson, of RSPB Scotland, that there is "a lack of specialist knowledge among fiscals" and that "some of these cases are defended by top QCs and prosecuted by non-specialist fiscals. All the QC has to do is sow seeds of doubt and it may lead to a not guilty verdict".

The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) takes exception to these claims, which I note were not supported by any examples or evidence.

Wildlife crime can present a complex and sometimes challenging area of law and, in recognition of this, COPFS has allocated significant resources to tackling it in recent years, including the appointment of 17 specialist prosecutors to deal with this type of crime. They are based in procurator-fiscal offices across Scotland and receive specialist training.

Our specialist prosecutors work with police and other specialist reporting agencies from the investigation stage onwards, and their knowledge and experience of wildlife crime and local communities is carried through to the case being prosecuted in court.

Only last month, the Solicitor General for Scotland announced the appointment of Alex Prentice QC to the role of specialist Crown Counsel for wildlife crime. Mr Prentice is the Assistant Principal Advocate Depute and will provide support and legal advice to specialist wildlife prosecutors.

I also note that Mr Thomson's claims are at odds with the findings of Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary for Scotland and the Inspectorate of Prosecution in Scotland published in the "Natural Justice Update" report in April 2008.

This report highlighted the good work being done by the police and procurators-fiscal to tackle wildlife crime. It also made a small number of recommendations, and those which related to COPFS have now all been implemented.

There have been some significant recent examples of successful wildlife prosecutions by COPFS which were not reflected in your article. Last year, a fishing boat crewman was jailed for clubbing 21 seal pups to death on a remote island off Shetland, East Linga. Our specialist prosecutor used expert pathologists, vets and evidence-gathering techniques to ensure this offender was successfully prosecuted.

Likewise, in a somewhat unusual case, a man was convicted of fox-hunting in the centre of Glasgow. The close working of our specialist prosecutor with the reporting agencies, in particular the wildlife crime police officer, was crucial to this prosecution.

The prosecution service recognises the impact that wildlife crime has on our precious natural heritage and we remain committed to effective enforcement of the law in this area.

Tom Dysart, Area Procurator Fiscal for Tayside and COPFS lead on Wildlife and Environmental Crime for Scotland