A COUPLE have admitted trapping a wild bird inside York city boundaries and taking it home.

A member of the public spotted Sandra Smith, 56, as she carried a goldfinch in a cage towards the car where her husband Jonas, 63, was waiting on Germany Beck, Fulford, said Joe Culley, prosecuting, at York Magistrates’ Court.

The eyewitness took the car’s registration number and alerted police.

When officers went to the couple’s home a few days later, they found four wild birds which the couple claimed were canaries they had bought legitimately.

The Smiths, both of Cockret Close, Selby, each pleaded guilty to taking a wild bird, an offence under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.

They were each fined £120, plus £85 costs, plus a £30 statutory surcharge and their bird trap was confiscated.

All the birds have been re-released into the wild.

By law, no wild birds can be trapped or kept without permission, with a few exceptions, mostly for game birds during the relevant shooting season.

Mitigating for the couple, Keeley Harrison said: “They deeply regret their actions and that they are before the court today. They will never do this again.”

Mr Culley said the eyewitness was walking his dog with his family near Germany Beck on Saturday, July 22, at 2.15pm when he saw the couple in their car.

About an hour later, he returned to the area and saw the car again.

This time the husband was standing next to it and the wife was walking towards it with what looked like a black hamster cage. Inside the cage was a goldfinch which was clearly in distress, the court heard.

On July 25, police went to the Smiths’ home.

The court heard that Sandra Smith said: “There are no birds here. I am allergic to them.”

But inside the house, police found the birds in cages flapping their wings. The cages were a kind that could be used to trap birds.

Jonas Smith had some previous convictions, but none for similar offences. Sandra Smith had no previous convictions.