Poacher escapes jail over glue traps for birds

A poacher who was filmed setting up handmade glue traps to illegally capture dozens of wild birds at a Black Country park has avoided an immediate jail term.

Andrew Kemp, who used a caged goldfinch to lure in similar birds and then catch them on lime-sticks in woodland off Villiers Street, Willenhall, was handed a suspended custodial sentence.

Walsall Magistrates Court heard how the 36-year-old was secretly filmed by the RSPCA special operations unit using a set-up where wires were coated in Vebicolla and stuck into the ground.

Kemp, a baker, spread seeds in a bid to lure the goldfinches, which would get stuck.

A total of 23 goldfinches and a bullfinch were discovered in a garden shed at his home in Wednesfield Road, Willenhall.

Chair of the bench at the court yesterday, Brian Benton, said: "We saw the video footage and the concern we still have is that you still don't seem to have accepted responsibility for this.

"But you were caught virtually red-handed and clearly didn't buy them from a bird show as you claimed."

Kemp had pleaded guilty to seven offences relating to the possession of wild birds, using a trap to take a bird, keeping a goldfinch in a confined small cage and having items to commit a wildlife offence.

Sarah Frogatt, defending, said Kemp took full responsibility for his crimes, and was not selling the birds.