Kernaghan killed six pipistrelle bats with a dinghy paddle

Charles Kernaghan was fined �450 at Dunfermline Sheriff Court after being found guilty of intentionally killing a protected species.

The 38-year-old from Ballingry, Fife, attacked the bats in his loft after they got into his children's bedrooms.

Kernaghan said he swung the paddle about to scare the creatures as he thought they were trying to attack him.

The bats involved were pipistrelles, Britain's smallest bats, measuring only five centimetres from head to tail.

They are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.

These tiny creatures are incredibly fragile PC Mark Maylin Wildlife liaison officer

Wildlife liaison officer PC Mark Maylin told the court the attack was so ferocious that some of the tiny creatures were "mushed up into a pulp, with ears and wings littering the attic floor".

Fife Constabulary were called in after officials from Scottish Natural Heritage discovered the slaughter. The police said there were about 60 bats in the roost.

PC Maylin said he followed a "musty smell" in Kernaghan's attic and immediately found four of the dead bats. He later found parts which he assumed belonged to more of the animals.

"These tiny creatures are incredibly fragile," he said. "An adult weighs only four grammes, so it doesn't take much to kill them."

He said he spoke to Kernaghan, a tractor driver, who "gave the impression that he knew the legal implications of harming a protected species".

I had the paddle in my hand and started swinging it about. I was just doing it to scare them Charles Kernaghan

Kernaghan, who denied killing six of the bats last June, faced a maximum penalty of up to three years in jail and a fine of up �30,000.

He told the court that his family had suffered bats in the attic of their council home for eight years, but by last summer his daughters, aged 10 and 13, had become too scared to sleep in their own rooms.

He said he went into the attic to investigate.

"I had the paddle in my hand and started swinging it about. I was just doing it to scare them," he said.

"I thought they were trying to attack me."

He said he had tried to get the colony moved legally but was told the council could do nothing about the nests.

"Two days before this happened the bairns had woken up with a couple of bats in their room under the covers.

"They were frightened. I tried to block the holes but it wasn't successful."

'Serious offence'

Sheriff Peter Braid told Kernaghan: "You killed animals from a protected species, which is itself a very serious offence, in a manner which cannot be described by any means as humane.

"But you are a first offender, and you had complained about this problem. It appears that you simply snapped."

Lynne Birrell, of Scottish Natural Heritage, said: "'This sad case highlights the need for people to seek advice from us and act within the law when dealing with bats.

"We had already been advising members of the family on bats in the house for some time when the crime was discovered.

"The majority of cases involving problems with roosts in houses are resolved with both the animals and residents interests in mind."