POLICE have defended their controversial investigation into the death of a white-tailed eagle saying it was led by “experienced detectives".

It comes after a senior wildlife officer slammed the force’s handling of the investigation on social media last week.

Former Dorset Police wildlife officer Claire Dinsdale said Dorset Police made ‘serious errors of judgement’ in the white-tailed eagle investigation.

In October, the force concluded no one can be proven to have been criminally responsible for the death of a White Tailed Sea Eagle found on private land in January.

A post-mortem concluded the bird died as a result of consuming rodenticides, which is a type of pesticide.

The matter remains under investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).

READ MORE: Dorset among two worst counties for illegally killing birds of prey

In a Twitter thread posted last week, Ms Dinsdale who left the force this year, said until early 2022 “there was thankfully no-one interfering with these specialised cases”.

She said policing must remain objective and not be influenced by other parties or “their own officers”.

“I hope lessons will be learned by those who made serious errors of judgement. Policing needs to respect and listen to those experienced and specialist officers on the ground.

“It needs to have the strength and courage to do what is right without personal regard for ambition or self-importance.

“If I can correct the statement for the record here, the eagle case was shut down prematurely in my view and the planned multi agency search I had arranged was cancelled by a new boss with no understanding of wildlife crime.

“And a very senior officer within days of an MPs rebuke and threats on police funding, got the word wildlife removed from our twitter bio.”

READ MORE: Police investigation over white tailed eagle death ends

In response to the claims on Twitter, which were shared by campaigner Chris Packham, assistant chief constable Rachel Farrell of Dorset Police said a review of the case was started by “experienced detectives” following discussions with partner agencies.

She added: “As part of the reinvestigation, further lines of enquiry were identified and we engaged with the wildlife crime lead from the CPS.

"However, following consultation with Natural England and the HSE, the review concluded that, although there were very high levels of rodenticides in the bird, there was insufficient evidence to prove an offence of wilful poisoning by an individual – so no one person can be proven to have been criminally responsible for the bird’s death. Therefore, in line with national guidance, the matter remained under investigation by HSE.

“The police are operationally independent and have to be so, in order to uphold the law and all investigations are carried out impartially.”

The Dorset Police and Crime Commissioner, David Sidwick said the implication the investigation was “politically impeded is therefore bizarre and entirely without merit”.

“With regard to the tragic death of the sea eagle, I clearly publicly supported the Rural Crime Team in their decision to carry out a full and thorough police investigation – this was contrary to the position that was first expressed by the MP for West Dorset and I have continued to support such investigations taking place.

“Politicians, including myself as PCC, are not able to ‘direct or drop’ investigations – the police are operationally independent and have to be so, in order to uphold the law.

“I acknowledge that there have been differing opinions regarding the sea eagle investigation, however, once again, let me state quite clearly, that the Dorset Police Rural Crime Team have my full and unwavering support in their efforts to investigate potential wildlife crime offences.”

The Daily Echo contacted MP Chris Loder for a comment.