An "obsessive" egg collector has been jailed after he was caught with rare specimens just four weeks after he was fined for same offence.

Barry Sheavills, 41, was jailed for four months for having four goosander eggs and three goshawk eggs.

His sentence makes him the first illegal egg collector to be put behind bars under the new Wildlife and Countryside Rights of Way Act.

Magistrates jailed the "notorious" egg thief for the "protection of wildlife".

The father-of-two, of Ogle Drive, Blyth, Northumberland, was fined £1,000 by South East Northumberland magistrates in May for being in possession of 1,260 protected eggs. Sheavills was found guilty after a trial on May 3 and escaped with a fine.

But on June 2 police raided his home again and uncovered seven more endangered eggs hidden in a carton in his kitchen cupboard.

Sheavills was arrested but claimed he was just looking after the eggs for a friend.

But he eventually pleaded guilty to two charges of illegally possessing rare birds eggs.

He also pleaded guilty to possession of 41.8g of amphetamine powder which he told police he used while he was out egg collecting.

Sheavills was sentenced to three months in prison for possession of the goshawk eggs and a further one month for the goosander eggs.

There was no separate penalty for the drugs offence.