Heacham glamping site owner Nigel Marsh charged with theft after U-turn from Crown Prosecution Service

A glamping site owner who disabled a trio of bird scarers he says were placed around his campsite to harass his guests has been charged with theft after a U-turn.

Nigel Marsh, who runs holiday company My Mini Break, had been told Norfolk Police had dropped the case against him after he was arrested for tampering with the equipment placed around his site in Edgefield, near Holt.

But the Crown Prosecution Service, which just last month said there was “no realistic prospect of conviction”, has since changed its mind - and Mr Marsh, who has a campsite in Heacham, now faces court later this month.

This follows an incident last summer when the 59-year-old disabled three gas-powered bird scarers pointed at his guests, which he says were set to go off every 20 minutes between 7am and 7pm.

He claims they were placed there as part of a campaign of harassment by disgruntled gamekeepers who use the land surrounding his Dam Hill Plantation campsite in the Glaven Valley.

Mr Marsh says he took the matter into his own hands and removed parts of the equipment to stop the 100 decibels of noise after neither the police or North Norfolk District Council took any action to stop the bird scarers.

“I acted as an individual trying to stop someone else from harassing myself, my business and guests when everyone else turned their back,” Mr Marsh said.

“It is as if the authorities are acting as the gamekeepers’ puppets.”

He has denied committing an act of theft, stating he had no intention of profiting from taking the equipment.

Instead, he says he removed parts from the devices in the hope it would encourage the owner to come forward to claim them back so that they could discuss the matter, as he was not sure who they belonged to at the time.

He says that when the police came to the other campsite he operates in Heacham in October last year, he returned the items to officers and explained the situation.

They continued to arrest him and questioned him at Lynn’s police station.

Mr Marsh has been summoned to appear at Lynn Magistrates’ Court on January 22.