A serial bird egg thief who has been stealing the items since childhood has been spared jail after illegally amassing a collection of almost 3,000 specimens.
Daniel Lingham, 71, had already served two prison sentences for illegal egg collecting - in 2005 and 2018 - when he was caught on a wildlife trap camera stealing two eggs from a nightjar nest at a wildlife reserve near Holt last year.
He was identified in the footage from Holt Lowes by his distinctive walking stick and when police went to search his home at Newton St Faith they found thousands more eggs.
At his sentencing hearing at Norwich Magistrates Court on Friday, presiding magistrate Matthew Watts told Lingham he was "motivated by an obsessive desire" and the eggs were kept as "trophies for personal satisfaction".
In mitigation, James Burrows said Lingham suffered from mental health issues as a result of a "traumatic childhood", during which his father would reward him for catching eggs.
His "addiction" was a form of escapism, said Mr Burrows, who claimed that Lingham “could not help himself” when he found the eggs “by accident” when he was “looking for adders”.
Lingham's sentence of 12 weeks in prison, suspended for 18 months, has angered wildlife campaigners.
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Thomas Grose, investigations officer for RSPB, said: "We are disappointed with the sentence bearing in mind the man has had two custodial sentences before.
"He didn’t just visit a nightjar breeding site he actually went there intentionally to steal the eggs and literally knew what he was doing, hence the guilty plea.
“Custodial sentences have reduced the number of these cases and they have been effective.
"I don’t think this is a meaningful deterrent and we do not have faith that he will not reoffend."
Lingham covered his face with his coat hood as he left the court building and offered no comment to reporters.
He admitted at an earlier hearing to five offences, including taking the nightjar eggs and possessing 2,429 eggs of a non-schedule 1 wild bird under the Wildlife and Countryside Act.
He also admitted possessing 22 Schedule 1 bird eggs, possessing articles capable of being used to identify and take eggs and breaching a Criminal Behaviour Order which banned him from entering Holt Lowes.
He was also ordered to comply with a 12-month mental health treatment requirement including 15 rehabilitation activity days.
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He was told to pay £183 in compensation to the British Trust for Ornithology, £145 in court costs and a £154 victim surcharge.
SIX DECADES OF OFFENDING
Lingham has been stealing eggs for six decades, having picked up the habit from his father.
He has been jailed for his hobby - which was outlawed in 1954 - twice in the last 20 years.
In 2005, he was jailed for 10 weeks after police found a collection of almost 4,000 eggs in his home.
And in 2018, he was caught by police at Cawston Heath dressed in camouflage, with a wooden catapult, binoculars and tree-climbing 'crampon-style' boots.
He told officers: "I've been a silly man, haven't I?"
He was found to have more than 5,000 eggs and was jailed for 18 weeks and handed a 10-year Criminal Behaviour Order, aimed at stopping him from committing similar crimes in the future.
But when officers raided his home last year, they found a total of 2,995 eggs, including 2,429 eggs from native birds in his bedroom.
Some 548 were from those on the amber list of birds of conservation concern. Another 546 were of the most serious concern on the red list including linnet, green finch, yellowhammer and house sparrow.
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Another batch of eggs was found hidden in his bathroom along with a box containing a pair of nightjar eggs with the label “Nightjar 2, Holt Lowes June 9” - the location and date on which the theft was caught on camera last summer.
Officers also found identifying books, binoculars and an egg-blowing kit.
He told investigators the eggs were from an old collection he had in storage when police last raided his address and from a collection he was given by a friend in Essex.
But the way they were stored suggested otherwise.
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