Following a trial at Lincolnshire Magistrates Court earlier this month, farmer/gamekeeper John Bryant, 40, of West Ashby, Horncastle was found guilty of multiple offences following a police investigation into the illegal killing of a Red Kite and two Common Buzzards over a five year period.
A statement released by Lincolnshire Police said that Bryant “used illegal traps and stored dangerous chemicals” on his land – which partly operated as a pheasant shoot. Police officers found the items after an investigation into the deaths of three birds of prey led them to his property.
A chemical identified as Alphachloralose – a rodenticide which is one of the most common substances known to poison birds of prey (see Protectors of the Wild: Poisoning/poisoned baits and the Law) – was discovered in a vehicle being used by Bryant. A second tub containing the same product was later found in his garage. The chemical was highly concentrated, with levels found to be over 80,% making it a banned and highly dangerous substance.
Illegal spring traps were also found in the search. Two pole traps, which are specifically used to kill birds of prey but were banned for use in 1904 because of how cruel they were, were recovered by two pheasant release pens. They were found to contain Tawny Owl (a legally-protected species) and pigeon DNA.
‘Punishment’
The court was that a number of birds of prey had been found poisoned in the Belchford area over several years. Lincolnshire Police together with the RSPB and the National Wildlife Crime Unit led a multi-agency search on a pheasant and partridge shoot at Grange Farms in October 2022. While no one has been charged with the earlier poisonings – though presumably Police had their suspicions – Bryant was found guilty in relation to four offences: two relating to the illegal storage and usage of Alphachloralose and two relating to the possession of the two pole traps.
Police also found four unset gin traps (illegal in the UK since 1958 and designed to catch an animal by the leg using spring-operated jaws) in an outbuilding belonging to Bryant. Forensic DNA analysis conducted by SASA (Science & Advice for Scottish Agriculture) found bird of prey DNA on three of the traps. Two had Buzzard DNA on them, with a Sparrowhawk feather identified in the jaws of a third trap. Bryant was charged in relation to possession of the gin traps being items capable of committing a wildlife offence but was found not guilty.
He was sentenced on 20 March 2025 and ordered to pay £7,449 in total – including £2112 in fines for the four offences, £4,492 in costs and a victim surcharge of £845.
So, all that effort, the long hours of police and investigators, the cost of DNA analysis, and the years of illegally killing birds of prey (no one will think, surely, that these were the only birds Bryant killed), results in costs that any farmer/landowner will be able to swallow and carry on. No jail sentence, no order banning him from running a shoot. Hopefully his defence costs were substantial.
Firearms licence and General Licence
On the latter, the Police said
“As a direct result of this investigation. Both from matters revolving around the storage and security of firearms and ammunition along with this case being brought against him, his authority to possess firearms and shotguns was also withdrawn. In other words, Lincolnshire Police revoked those certificates so he could no longer possess licensable guns.“
On paper the loss of both those licences looks to be a more impactful punishment than losing money. But the shooting industry somehow always manages to look after its own. It’s entirely possible that neither will have the impact hoped for unless Bryant is put under close supervision by an individual or an organisation determined to make sure he doesn’t break the law again.
Let’s start with General Licences. The various General Licences set out the purposes and circumstances under which killing otherwise protected birds is lawful. All General Licences are ‘virtual’ – by definition no one needs to apply for one but ‘holders’ are required by law to abide by their terms and conditions. There will be no computer records, no paper trail, no nothing. That makes them almost impossible to monitor of course (yet shooting lobbyists still whine about how restrictive they are). Unless Bryant is investigated for wildlife crimes against birds again, there is no reason for him to ‘have’ a general licence. Chances are that if he is caught out he will simply claim that he was covered by a ‘partner’ or shoot associate anyway.
The loss of a firearms licence looks to be far more important, though you don’t need a firearms licence to poison a bird of prey or use traps that have been illegal for more than a century. If he is caught using a firearm without a licence the punishment is severe, but who is likely to see or report Bryant if he is seen using a firearm in the future?
Besides which, it appears that if Bryant lives with someone and they have firearms certificates, he will likely be allowed to transfer his guns to that holder and they will be able to keep their guns in the same house. He may even be allowed to use his firearms “under the supervision” of another certificate holder on their land or other land that they have rights to shoot over. A quick search of the internet will lead to solicitors’ firms who will “provide advice about continuing to shoot without a certificate” anyway, and who boast that they “have had a busy year of firearms licensing matters, and it is encouraging that almost all cases have concluded positively.”
Bryant needs to be banned – not his certificates.
At 40, Bryant is still a relatively young man. This is not some ‘old bloke’ who grew up when birds of prey weren’t protected and the countryside was viewed as full of ‘vermin’ that needed to be eradicated. He has access to the internet and the same legislation on there as the rest of us. It is impossible to believe he didn’t know that what he was doing was wrong. It’s very hard to believe that if he hadn’t been caught he would not still be poisoning and trapping protected birds of prey.
The shooting industry is rotten with people like John Bryant. Of all the individuals convicted of bird of prey persecution-related offences from 2009 to 2023, two-thirds (68%) have been so-called gamekeepers (people who kill wildlife – often illegally – so that other people can kill yet more wildlife). Its clients are ‘wilfully blind’ and have spent decades looking the other way.
