Photographer prosecuted after attempting to take home road-killed deer
Photographer Guy Carpenter was prosecuted after trying to take home a deer killed by a vehicle on the roadside near Barnard Castle. The case highlights how a law intended to prevent deer poaching can also apply to someone who did not kill the animal and believed the landowner would have allowed its removal.
Carpenter, 42, was charged under Section 1(2) of the Deer Act 1991, which provides a defence if a person genuinely believes the landowner would have consented. He says he put the deer back after Durham Constabulary told him taking it was illegal, but later received a court summons. The article says he feared a criminal record for several weeks and describes the case as an example of inflexible officialdom.
In short
- A roadside deer carcass led to a prosecution.
- Guy Carpenter was charged under the Deer Act 1991.
- The case raises questions about how the law is applied.
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The case for
Enforcing the Deer Act consistently can help prevent people from disguising poaching as the recovery of an animal found by the roadside. Requiring a genuine belief in the landowner’s consent gives a lawful route for legitimate removal while protecting property rights and wildlife enforcement; officials may also need to refer apparent offences for proper assessment rather than decide intent informally.
The case against
Applying a law designed to deter poaching to someone who says he did not kill the deer and believed the landowner would have consented risks treating an honest mistake as criminal conduct. If he returned the animal when told the removal was unlawful, prosecution may seem disproportionate and expose a gap between the law’s protective purpose and how it affects ordinary people.
Explained simply
The Deer Act 1991 sets rules intended to prevent deer being unlawfully killed or taken. It can apply to someone who picks up a deer even if they did not kill it; the law includes a defence for a person who genuinely believes the landowner would have agreed to its removal.
Guy Carpenter is a photographer who encountered a deer killed by a vehicle near Barnard Castle. The case concerns what people may do with wildlife found dead on a roadside, and how the law distinguishes between taking an animal without permission and believing permission would have been given.
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Originally published by Daily Mail as “PETER HITCHENS: Bizarre case of the dead deer that proves the jobsworth class have forgotten who they are meant to serve”.