(Image: CONTRIBUTOR)
WELL, well, well - or should it be hello, hello, hello?
Common sense has eventually prevailed.
After an appearance at Peterlee Magistrates Court, Durham police have decided to drop the charges faced by Guy Carpenter over his removal of a dead deer carcase from the A66 at Greta Bridge, near Barnard Castle 'Police drop case after deer picked up' (Echo, October 22).
It was a ludicrously foolish decision to prosecute this poor man.
In fact, the overzealous police officer should have thanked Mr Carpenter for clearing the road and not allowing the carcase to be crushed into the tarmac as is the fate of so many unfortunate roadkill creatures.
What an appalling waste of police, court and public time and effort.
Mr Carpenter, who picked up a deer that was already dead having been killed on the A66 by a vehicle to take home and eat, did the right thing.
Was he supposed to go and knock on everyone’s door, asking: “Excuse me, is this your deer?”
Oh dear, dear, dear.
So what happened to this manna from heaven?
Did the police go and find its rightful owner, or did they have a slap-up venison BBQ?
No, I bet it was left stinking, then disposed of as waste.
We all know that Lord Barnard has a massive herd of deer which he sells in the shop at Raby Castle, but he also has massive deer-proof fencing and a sunken ha-ha which has been in place since the 18th century, so it was unlikely it was one of his.
And even if it was, do you think he would thank anyone for turning up at his portcullis with a roadkill animal on their shoulder?
They would probably be taken into the dungeons and never seen again.
I mean, let’s face it, I don’t think a lord would sell roadkill in his farm shop, would he?
This is total and utter poppycock, putting this poor man through months of absolute hell and undue stress through no fault of his own.
He didn’t kill it, or have it dragged down by deer hounds or shoot it with his poacher’s bow.
No, he didn’t.
That is a crime and certainly punishable by law.
No, this stupid, outdated law (the 1991 Deer Act, which says the dead deer cannot be removed from the highway without the permission of the landowner) needs to be changed.
We are no longer living in the 15th century.
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Mr Carpenter isn’t bloody Robin Hood being dragged to face his fate at the hands of the dastardly evil Sheriff of Nottingham.
The only crime committed here is one of wasting police, court and Mr Carpenter’s time by the arresting officer and those in the force who allowed this most heinous of farces to proceed this far.