Innovative DNA techniques has led to a 24-year-old man being ordered to pay back more than £27,000 in proceeds of crime confiscation action after being convicted of selling wild peregrine falcon chicks.

Lewis Hall was ordered to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work over 15 months and banned from possessing or having under his control any bird of prey for five years after being sentenced in February at Jedburgh Sheriff Court.

He had earlier pled guilty at Selkirk Sheriff Court to acquiring for commercial purposes, keeping for sale, and selling the chick between 2020 and 2021.

He has now agreed to repay £27,182 under the proceeds of crime legislation, with the figure based on an amount which the court deems as being available.

Hall accepted in court that he gained £110,000 from the conduct. The Crown has the power to apply to the court to extend the order to seize money and any assets Hall acquires in the future to pay back the full amount he made from his crimes.

Sineidin Corrins, Deputy Procurator Fiscal for specialist casework at the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, said: "The sale of peregrine falcons has become an extremely lucrative business.

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“Lewis Hall took advantage of that for his own financial gain and to the detriment of the wild peregrine falcon population in the South of Scotland. 

“However, even after a conviction was secured in this matter, the Crown commenced Proceeds of Crime action to ensure the funds Hall obtained illegally were pursued.

“Prosecution of those involved in financial crime does not stop at criminal conviction and sentencing. 

“The funds recovered from Lewis Hall will be added to those already gathered from Proceeds of Crime, to be re-invested in the community by Scottish Ministers through the CashBack for Communities programme.”

A second man, Timothy Hall, 48, was also given 220 hours in community payback orders after being convicted while he also pled guilty to firearm offences as well as charges over animal welfare.

The investigation was launched in 2021 after police were alerted to the fact previously productive peregrine falcon nests in the area had been failing.

Officers investigated and discovered two nesting sites had been disturbed with a number of eggs missing.

A search of a home in Berwick-Upon-Tweet found a total of seven peregrine flacon chicks as well as a number of other birds of prey.

It is legal to sell captive-bred peregrines but possessing or selling wild birds isn’t, and new DNA techniques were used to check whether the birds were taken from the wild or not.

As well as Police Scotland, the investigation was helped by the Scottish SPCA, the UK National Wildlife Crime Unit (NWCU), the Scottish Raptor Study Group, Science and Advice for Scottish Agriculture (SASA) and COPFS.

Detective Superintendent Bryan Burns said: “The sale of peregrine falcons has become an extremely lucrative business which Timothy and Lewis Hall exploited for their own financial gain.

“If their illegal activities had continued unchallenged, this would have had a massive impact on the population of young birds, and had the potential to wipe out the entire population of peregrine falcons in the south of Scotland.

“This case has been a monumental effort by Detective Constable Steven Irvine who led the investigation and was determined to bring the perpetrators to justice, going into meticulous detail to unravel the true extent of the criminality involved.

“These convictions would not have been possible without the incredible support from the partner agencies involved who all played a vital part in the investigation.”
 
Assistant Chief Constable for Major Crime, Public Protection and Local Crime, ACC Bex Smith, added: “This case not only has huge ramifications locally but also across the UK and worldwide and shows that Police Scotland is at the forefront of tackling illegal wildlife trade, working with our partners to use new and ground breaking forensic techniques.

“Wildlife crime remains a key priority for the Service and we will continue to use all resources at our disposal to put a stop to this illegal activity.”
 
Chief Inspector Kevin Kelly, head of the UK National Wildlife Crime Unit said: “This is part of the largest wildlife crime investigation in UK history, showing the illegal wildlife trade is a thriving business for criminals.

“The UK is home to some of the rarest birds of prey in the world, some of these are being taken and laundered in the legal falconry trade bringing lucrative returns for criminals and having a direct impact on the current nature crisis. The NWCU is committed to tackling this.”

Dr Lucy Webster from Science and Advice for Scottish Agriculture (SASA), part of the Scottish Government, led on the forensic work.

She said: “This is the first case to use our new forensic DNA method to test whether documented breeding records for Peregrine Falcons are true or false. However, we went beyond establishing false breeding records here, and also identified family links to several wild Peregrine nests.

"This powerful method will continue to support investigations and combat the illegal trade of wild Peregrines in the UK and beyond.”

It comes as officers in the Angus area have appealed for information following the death of a peregrine falcon last month.

The injured bird was found in distress by a member of the public on Tuesday, September 3 in the Glen Esk area near to Tarfside, and was taken to the wildlife resource centre in Fishcross for treatment.

The bird was euthanised on Wednesday, September 11 due to the severity of its injuries and further investigations discovered the bird had been shot.

Constable Craig Savage, Wildlife Crime Officer, said: “Peregrine falcons are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act and it is illegal to kill any protected species.

“Since this matter was reported to police, we have been carrying out enquiries and working with our partner agencies to establish the full circumstances.

“We would appeal to anyone with any information that may assist our investigation to please contact us. Your information could be vital in in establishing what has happened. If you were in the Glen Esk area around Tuesday, 3 September and saw anything suspicious or have any information about shooting activity in the area, please come forward.

“Anyone with information is urged to contact Police Scotland on 101 quoting reference CR/0368615/24.”