British Judge Hands Illegal Ivory Trader Suspended Sentence

This follows a lengthy investigation by the Met's Wildlife Crime Unit that led police to locations in China, Latvia and the United States.

Michael Francis Elliot, 56, of Gravesend in Kent appeared at Southwark Crown Court on June 13 where he pleaded guilty to seven offenses relating to the trade in ivory.

He was given a two year suspended sentence. Prosecution costs of £1480 (US$2,918) were awarded against him and all of the ivory was subject to forfeiture.

"We praise the successful prosecution of a man trying to break a law put in place to protect endangered species across the globe. But on the face of it the sentence does appear lenient," said Heather Sohl, wildlife trade officer at WWF-UK. "Strict penalties are available and should be used to discourage future criminality of this nature."

Carvings made from elephant ivory (Photo courtesy WWF-UK)

This case originally came to police attention when a warrant was executed at Elliott's home in January 2005 following his arrest on suspicion of handling stolen goods.

A further warrant was executed in March 2005 at the same address, this time leading to a haul raw ivory and carvings.

Confiscated items included 24 whole ivory tusks and dozens of carvings made from elephant, hippo and sperm whale ivory, which are protected from uncontrolled international trade by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.

Elliot was charged with 10 offenses contrary to the Control of Trade in Endangered Species (Enforcement) Regulations 1997. These relate to the alleged selling and keeping for sale the hippo, elephant and sperm whale items.

Detective Sergeant Ian Knox of the Met Wildlife Crime Unit said, "This case has shown that there is still a high demand for ivory and ivory products. This demand outstrips the ivory available lawfully and encourages poachers in the range states to kill endangered species. This is to the detriment of us all and threatens their very survival."

"It also destroys people's livelihoods and helps to fund organized crime, insurgencies and terrorism," said Knox.

At the sentencing hearing, Judge Michael Gledhill commented that man had since time immemorial collected art made from parts of species and that "the effect of that human activity has been to cause extinction and in other cases pushed species to the verge of extinction."

This case is the latest under Operation Charm, an ongoing partnership initiative against the illegal trade in endangered species.

Operation Charm was launched by the Metropolitan Police in 1995. It is the only current police initiative against the illegal trade in endangered species in the UK and uses a combination of law enforcement and publicity in London.

In 2006, Operation Charm became a partnership between the Metropolitan Police Wildlife Crime Unit, the Greater London Authority, the Active Conservation Awareness Programme, the International Fund for Animal Welfare, WWF-UK and the David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation.

Many of the partners had played a part in Operation Charm before, but the partnership provides a more permanent basis to take Operation Charm forward in the long term.

The campaign is supported by The Federation of Traditional Chinese Medicine and The London Chinatown Chinese Association.

"This case demonstrates the need for UK police forces to have officers dedicated to combating wildlife crime," said Sohl. "By working in partnership with them we will bring an end to this illegal trade before it brings an end to some of the world's most important species."

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