Falconer illegally sold bird of prey for £1,200, court told
A WORLD-RENOWNED falconer illegally sold a £1,200 bird of prey, magistrates have been told.
Torbay Falconers Club organiser Paul Hill, 41, sold the young female goshawk without the right registration documents.
Mr Hill from Dairy Lane, Ivybridge, denies seven charges relating to the registration of the birds that have been bred in captivity.
He is standing trial after earlier pleading not guilty to selling the bird in July last year and offering the bird for sale a few weeks earlier at the Festival of Falconry in Reading.
He also denies four charges relating to possessing goshawks that were not properly registered or ringed, and obstructing a police officer who searched his former address at Audley Avenue in Torquay.
Hill runs the International Falconry Forum website and exhibits at events including fairs on Paignton Green.
In opening the case, prosecutor Mark Haddow said the close-knit falconry world was secretive and 'has a cloak and dagger way of going about business'.
The court heard the birds were without registration documents that act as a lifelong 'passport' with keeper details.
The paperwork stops the trade of endangered wild birds that are indigenous to the UK.
Potential penalties could include a ban on keeping birds for up to five years.
Defence solicitor Nigel Butt said police first investigated the well-known falconer on suspicion he had taken birds from the wild.
"Those allegations were false," said Mr Butt.
He said that Hill was known to every falconer in the country and in most of the world.
He said: "He is a person who has skill with great affinity and ability.
"This is about whether he has the correct documents at the right time."
Mr Butt told the court Hill was house-hunting at the time of the alleged offences.
He said officers at Defra were notified of Hill's circumstances and he told them he would be in touch when he had a more settled address.
Charles Butters, who the prosecution says bought the goshawk for £1,200, gave evidence at the trial.
He told the court how he bought the bird from Hill at a friend's house in Coronation Road, Kingsbridge.
Mr Butters, from Cornwall, said he wanted to step up from the 'Ford Fiesta' Harris hawk to the goshawk, the equivalent of a 'Ferrari'.
He said he bought the goshawk in excellent condition but Hill did not have the right paperwork.
Mr Butters said: "Paul said to me that he left home in a panic. He forgot the paperwork and he said that if I left him my address then he would pass it on because he was house- hunting and he was in a confused state."
Hill never sent on the paperwork.
Later checks showed that the bird had not been registered.
Hill maintains the bird was simply on loan to Mr Butters and no cash changed hands.
The trial continues.
12 Comments
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by bob, uk
Thursday, March 03 2011, 3:24PM
“Paul Hill is the most vile sleeze I have ever met, totally driven by money, he will be guilty as he will do anything for a few quid, a total disgrace to all us real falconers and his so called forum is a joke most members have left due to this farse. His only interests in falconry are to squeeze money from good honest people via his forum and of course his swinger parties, the man is a total toilet.”
by Bob, uk
Thursday, March 03 2011, 3:20PM
“Lets not fool ourselves Paul Hill is a total idiot and is driven by money alone, he is a vile person and i would urge any falconers to cut all ties with him. Paul's world revolves around money and swinger parties and if he saw a quick buck to be made he would no doubt have taken it, Paul Hill you got off lightly I would have given you a lifetime ban, you are a disgrace to falconry and your so called forum is a joke”
by Andy, South Devon
Saturday, September 11 2010, 3:48PM
“I cannot comment on this case but like other respondents I also wonder which world Mark Haddow inhabits?
I have recently become interested in falconry and am currently taking a LANTRA course to train me in being able to keep a bird of prey. So I suppose he includes me in his derogatory, prejudicial and probably slanderous remarks.
However, all the falconers I have met are the exact opposite of "secretive" and "cloak and dagger"!!
Ask a question about their bird and you will get "chapter and verse" about its history, parentage, habits, feeding and personality. Those I have asked have been more than happy to explain about the regulations and forms as they affect them in acquiring, keeping and caring for their different birds.
Nothing secret or spy-like there, just try stopping some of them from talking about these things :-)
And that's not just the falconers I have met through my course, it includes those at the shows (like the stands that you mention on Paignton Green for the Regatta), those at fixed sites like the garden centre near Newton Abbot and those at the large formal bird of prey centres.
That's a lot of people from all sorts of walks of life, at all sorts of ages. All of whom seem open and friendly to me. None of whom deserve the labels that were applied to them all by a public servant acting for us in the prosecuting role.
As another respondent said, he tarred them all with same brush.
If he makes such sweeping and obviously erroneous and defamatory statements in a public court, how can anyone trust anything else he says during the prosecution?”
by Mark, North Yorkshire
Friday, September 10 2010, 5:36PM
“I totally disagree 100% with Mr Haddows comments regards falconry been "Secretive" and having "A cloak and dagger way of going about business." I find this sort of prejudice towards a minority very insulting, not only to myself (being one of the minority), but to the worldwide falconry community as a whole. Obviously Mr Haddow knows nothing about falconry or the falconry community he slanders.
If Mr Hill did sell an unregistered bird, why then, did Mr Butters buy it? Surely he knew he was breaking the law buying a bird with no documentation? Is he been prosicuted for buying an unregistered bird? I doubt it, the whole thing seems like a farce to me, a total waste of time and tax payers money............yet again!!”
by Bryan Glass, doncaster
Friday, September 10 2010, 5:08PM
“as a falconer, i am outraged by the slanderous comments made by Mr Haddow. if he had been on the international falconry forum, he would see how fellow falconers condem any crime against wildlife. there is nothing secretive or cloak and dagger about falconry, but with one sentence he has tarred every falconer with the same brush.”