What damage can Labour do to hunting and shooting in 2026?
31 December 2025
What is Keir Starmer planning to throw at the countryside in 2026? We ask Gareth Dockerty from BASC, Tim Bonner from the Countryside Alliance, Ed
Professional pest controller Daniel Maddock has lost the tools of his trade and denied, for the moment at least, permission to own another. After applying for a firearms certificate in January 2024, because his boss wanted him to start taking on deer management jobs, he had a home visit by two officers from Police Scotland. He thought they were there to assess his security. Instead, they had come to charge him for ‘lying’ on his medical records.
From the information he’s been given it appears his GP told police he has suffered with depression even though Daniel says he has never had any form of mental illness. In Scotland, the GP sends the medical report directly to the Police so Daniel has no means of seeing what was submitted. The only thing he imagines it could be is a passing comment he made in the surgery, when he went to get his knees assessed for physiotherapy, that he and a girlfriend had just split up, or possibly when he was injured in an assault five years ago. Either way, the police believe that Daniel is suicidal and should not be allowed guns.
We contacted Police Scotland and they said: “A 28-year-old man was charged in connection with providing false information when applying to renew a firearms license (sic) and will be the subject of a report to the Procurator Fiscal.”
For more from the GWT, visit TheGamekeepersWelfareTrust.com
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