Addict abseiled down cliff to pinch falcon eggs which he flogged for heroin money

A drug addict has abseiled down a cliff to steal falcon eggs, which he then bought to fund his heroin behavior.

Christopher Wheeldon was caught on footage from the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) reaching into and eradicating eggs from a nest. The 34-year-old dad-of-two was joined by an unnamed confederate in his heist.

Grappling all the way down to the house of the peregrine falcon, Wheeldon was noticed eradicating the precious prize and putting it in a field, actions which had been condemned by a decide at Southern Derbyshire Magistrates’ Court.

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Wheeldon has since been jailed for 18 weeks after his theft was caught on CCTV footage, with a decide criticising the “damage to the environment” attributable to the heist.

District Judge Stephen Flint mentioned: “It seems even the birds are not beyond your thieving grasp. You may see them simply as eggs for profit but this causes damage to the environment and it is a deplorable thing to do. In your state, hanging off anything, whether it’s a quarry wall or a tree, is not the best thing to do.”

Lynn Bickley, prosecuting, says the egg heist came about at Bolsover Moor Quarry in Whaley on April 23 final 12 months. Said nest was monitored by the RSPB with a covert digicam in place, the Daily Mail reported.

Prosecutor Bickley mentioned: “Just after 4pm the peregrines can be seen and heard ‘alarm calling’ with the female on the nest turning her head and looking upwards. A green rope comes into view and Mr Wheeldon can be seen carrying a box and an insulated bag.

“He reaches into the nest three times, puts the eggs in the box and the box in the insulated bag. He then calls up ‘pull’ to someone who is above him. The two peregrines can still be heard alarm calling and remained at the site until 12.10pm the following day.”

Wheeldon pleaded responsible to expenses of disturbing the nesting web site of a protected chook, taking the eggs of a protected chook and 5 counts of shoplifting, 4 of which had been dedicated within the first week of January this 12 months in Matlock.

Clare James, mitigating, mentioned: “There is nothing I can say in relation to the offence in terms of mitigation. He abseiled down the cliff to get the eggs and he says he can’t give an explanation why he did it himself.”

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