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Call Special Branch .... a tree has come under attack
Neil Millard26.10.09
Council bosses used legislation designed to stop terrorists to try to track a man who damaged a tree.
Croydon council said it had exhausted every other method of tracing the fugitive after one of its officers caught him chopping branches off a Scots pine.
But the council's use of the anti-terror Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act to hunt through information held by phone companies proved pointless. The vandal, challenged after compaints from residents, had given a false address to the council officer and had been using an unregistered pay-as-you-go mobile phone.
Isabella Sankey from human rights watchdog Liberty said: "Another day, another case of sledgehammer powers used to crack a nut."
The council refused to reveal the location of the tree, saying it would be a breach of the Data Protect Act.
A spokesman said: "Every other avenue was exhausted. This is the only time our tree officers have used RIPA, which should give some indication of the damage done to what was a much-loved tree. It was an unacceptable act of wanton vandalism."
