Friday 21 November 2014 16.10 GMT
Lenient penalties for environment crimes, such as the suspended sentence handed down to a former gamekeeper who poisoned buzzards, hamper law enforcement and obstruct police efforts to get authorisation for vital wiretaps, the head of an EU environmental crimes unit has told the Guardian.
Leif Gorts, who leads a team at Eurojust, was speaking as the cross-border crime-fighting agency launched its first environmental crimes report, showing a dearth of prosecutions in Europe with low penalties, under-reporting, poor cross-border cooperation and corruption all hobbling enforcement efforts.
“We need stronger penalties so we can get wiretapping and other investigative measures authorised to fight organised crime,” Gorts said. “In my country, Sweden, we have four years as a maximum penalty, so we can wiretap people who are conspiring to kill wolves, for example.”
“A one year maximum sentence is considered enough for the UK, but a man was convicted of killing 10 endangered species just to protect pheasants, and he got away with a 10-week conditional sentence. That is not dissuasive. It is such a harmful thing to do.”
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