A MAN has pleaded guilty to a host of rural crime offences after a number of dead birds were found at his address.

Paul Scott Allen, of the Baileys Hill area, in Brockington, near Wimborne, appeared before Weymouth Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday, January 4 where he pleaded guilty to seven offences.

The court heard the charges were brought after an extensive investigation by police ‘over a number of years’. The investigation started in November 2020 when a dead kite was found and, close to it, a dead rat. Toxicology reports found that the rat was ‘laced with poison’ which, prosecutors said, was likely in order to deliberately kill the kite.

Police subsequently executed a warrant at Allen's address and found a shotgun that was behind a door and loaded. They also found rounds of ammunition - neither of which were covered by the gamekeeper’s firearms licenses.

Subsequent searches located a ‘fire in the yard’ and a number of dead birds - including six buzzards and ‘parts’ of three further buzzards. Further ‘remains’ of birds were also discovered.

Regulated toxins - including Strychnine, a highly toxic pesticide often used to kill birds and rodents - were found on Allen’s premises.

Ms Valera, prosecuting, said the findings ‘showed a pattern in how (Allen) works’.

In mitigation, it was said that Allen had no previous convictions and had ‘suffered a great deal’ at the time of offences. The court was told Allen’s wife had passed away after a long-term illness and that Allen had two children.

Bournemouth Echo: Paul Scott AllenPaul Scott Allen (Image: BNPS)

Allen’s defence barrister said the 54 year old had ‘made mistakes’ but ‘there was a lot going on in (his) life’.

Allen pleaded guilty to seven offences: two counts of possessing a live or dead bird, or parts thereof, one charge of failing to comply with the conditions of a shotgun certificate, one charge of failing to comply with the conditions of a firearms certificate, one count of possessing a regulated substance without a license, one count of failing to comply with  regulations in accordance with the Plant Protection Products (Sustainable Use) Regulations 2012 and one charge of contravening a health and safety regulations.

Charges of killing a wild bird, keeping a wild bird in a small cage and taking a wild bird were all dropped by prosecutors.

The case was adjourned until Thursday, February 16 at Weymouth Magistrates’ Court for a pre-sentence report to be produced.