dead deer, USA News (County Durham, United Kingdom): A man has had his case dropped by police after being charged with removing a deer carcass from the road. Guy Carpenter, 42, had been driving on the A66 road in County Durham on June 7 when he came across the carcass in the central reservation of the road.
Mr Carpenter stopped to remove the carcass near Greta Bridge, intending to take it home to put it in the freezer and later eat it. However, he was stopped by police and told he was committing an offence, as anyone found to be removing roadkill not on their own property is stealing from the council.
Two months later, Durham Police charged Mr Carpenter under the Deer Act of 1991. The legislation states it is an offence to remove a deer carcass, but a person is not guilty if they believed they would have the consent of the owner or occupier of the land. He said he found it unlikely a public body would object to him removing the deer given the cost of cleaning it up themselves. He received a letter by post informing him of the charge, with National Highways confirmed as the owner of the land.
At Peterlee Magistrates’ Court in September, Mr Carpenter was offered the chance to accept an out-of-court caution in exchange for no further action. However, he was hesitant to do so, as it would result in a criminal record. The case was eventually adjourned before the police informed him on October 19 that proceedings against him would be dropped. The court and police believed that Mr Carpenter had a genuinely held belief that he was allowed to remove the animal from the roadside.
Speaking to the BBC, Mr Carpenter said he had endured a horrible year as a result of the proceedings. He stated that the whole thing was pretty disturbing to start with and a bit of a shock, adding that it seemed far-fetched that it was stealing from the council. He noted he was grateful the police dropped it but felt it should not have gotten to that stage in the first place.
A Durham Police spokesman stated that there is a common misconception that deer carcasses can be removed from the roadside without permission of the landowner. The spokesman confirmed it is an offence to do so under the Deer Act 1991, but noted that in this specific case, authorities understood Mr Carpenter had a genuinely-held belief that he was allowed to remove the animal, leading to the withdrawal of the case.
