A MAN who destroyed a rare and protected bat roost during refurbishment works at his home has been forced to pay out more than £7,000 in court.

Iain Russell Turner was told by an ecologist that examination of the roost needed to be carried out before he could knock down a log store.

But Turner, 50, of The Street in Motcombe, Shaftesbury, knocked it down anyway and has now appeared in court for an offence of damaging or destroying the breeding site or resting place of a European protected species of animal.

Turner had pleaded guilty to the offence at an earlier hearing and was sentenced at Bournemouth Crown Court.

The court heard that on Tuesday September 4 last year an ecologist survey was carried out at Turner’s address as part of refurbishments that were being carried out.

At the rear of the property there were two extensions and one of these, a log store, was identified by the ecologist as having a bat roost in it.

The ecologist informed Turner about the bat roost both verbally and in an email. It explained that further surveys would need to be conducted and analysis carried out to establish the species of bat and extent of the roost.

Between Friday September 21 and Monday September 24 Turner demolished the log store at the property.

A Dorset Police wildlife crime officer attended the address earlier this year and informed Turner that an offence may have been committed under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.

In police interview, Turner admitted that he did not read the report submitted by the first ecologist and did not realise that he would be committing an offence by demolishing the log store without further ecological work.

He was sentenced by the judge to a fine of £3,000 and ordered to pay costs of £425 and a victim surcharge. Turner was also ordered to pay £3,720 for a Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) Confiscation Order.

Police Constable Claire Dinsdale, Rural Crime Coordinator for Dorset Police, said: “When the presence of a bat roost is suspected, there is a legal process that must be followed.

“In this case a Natterer’s bat roost has been destroyed. This is a rare species and vulnerable to roost loss through demolition.

“Dorset Police’s Economic Crime Unit has obtained a Proceeds of Crime confiscation order for this bat case.”

“We were the second force in the country to do so in a previous case and we will continue to use these powers when a defendant is shown to have financially benefitted from wildlife crime.”

Pete Charleston, Conservation Wildlife Crime Officer at the Bat Conservation Trust, said: “Natterer’s bats are scarce in the UK but our population is of international importance. This case demonstrates why bat crime is one of the UK Government’s wildlife crime priorities.

“It is therefore disappointing to hear of a roost used by this species having been illegally and needlessly destroyed. The sanctions imposed at court today amply demonstrates that our wildlife is valued and that those who choose to persecute it will be held to account.”