Bat home destruction court case

A planning consultant has been convicted of two charges of damaging or destroying the sites of protected bat species at a former hospital building.

Ayob Bhailok, 42, from Preston, Lancashire, had denied the charges relating to demolition work at the North Wales Hospital site in Denbigh.

He was given a six-month conditional discharge after a trial at Prestatyn Magistrates' Court. He was also ordered to pay £2,000 costs.

The charges related to the homes of both lesser horseshoe bats and brown long-eared bats at the former hospital site, designated as a Grade II-listed building.

The two-day trial heard that Bhailok, a solicitor by profession, was responsible for progressing plans to redevelop the 20-hectare grounds, which contain a number of listed buildings.

As part of those plans, and in agreement with Denbighshire County Council, work began to demolish the former Bryn Golau ward at the old hospital in October 2008.

However, it emerged there were two protected species of bat living there – something that Bhailok had been aware of since a survey was carried out in 2007.

The trial was told it was the defendant's responsibility to ensure work was carried out to re-house the bats, under the terms of a bat licence. But that work was never carried out.