£2,000 fine for badger attack

A woman who tried to kill a badger family by blocking the entrance to their sett and putting down creosote has been fined £2,000.

Patricia Cohen and workmen cut down trees in the garden and blocked entrances to the badgers' home with soil.

When police examined the site in Kingston Upon Thames, they found large logs had been put over the holes and creosote had been poured over the area. Cohen, of Cromwell Road, SW7, admitted offences against the Protection of Badger's Act 1992, at Kingston Magistrates Court. The act makes it a criminal offence to disturb, damage, or destroy badger setts.

Pc John Shurvell, of the Metropolitan Police Wildlife Crime Unit, said the incident happened when the badgers would have had their young underground.