HAS anyone noticed how every time one of their employees is caught trying to poison or trap a bird of prey, country estate owners invariably denounce the culprit as a “rogue gamekeeper”

acting under his own volition?

They then go on to issue a statement denying any knowledge of such things taking part on their land.

Presumably, as the perpetrators are invariably caught due to RSPCA or police surveillance, the rest of the estate owners’ law abiding gamekeepers must spend their days wandering around the workplace with their eyes closed and their fingers in their ears.

I Robson, Bishop Auckland.