A FORMER policeman's detailed account of a trip to steal golden eagles' eggs in the Western Isles has helped convict him of possessing 650 wild bird eggs he collected.
Michael Upson, who was a serving officer at the time of the offences, pled guilty during a hearing at Norwich Magistrates, where he will be sentenced today.
The conviction marks the end of a successful investigation by the Norfolk and Suffolk constabularies and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB).
The 52-year-old, of Sotherton, Suffolk was originally interviewed after officers went to his home address, in Suffolk, in June.
During a search of the property a total of 650 eggs were recovered including those of protected species such as woodlark, marsh harrier and golden eagle.
Detailed notebooks, also found at the house, documented the police officer's egg collecting trips around the UK.
One significant entry detailed a 1400-mile round trip to the Western Isles in early April 1997. In it Upson describes an encounter with one of Scotland's most iconic species, the golden eagle.
At one point he had written: "As I looked down the eagle that was on the eyrie turned her head and looked up at me. What an exhilarating moment and one that I am afraid I do not have sufficient vocabulary to describe. Our eyes literally met and for the briefest of moments we were both motionless looking at each other. Abruptly, however, the spell was broken as she got up, spread her wings and just sailed away and out of sight. Another documented Upson taking kittiwake eggs from Lowestoft Pier while on duty as an acting sergeant on three different night shifts.
Mark Thomas, the RSPB investigations officer in the case, said: "That a police officer should knowingly break the law in pursuit of this obsession is shocking and we welcome his conviction."
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