Bluebell bulb thieves fined

London - Three unemployed men were yesterday fined for their part in plundering thousands of bluebell bulbs from an historic wood. It is thought to be the first time that anyone has been successfully prosecuted for taking bluebell bulbs, which are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act. Magistrates in Fakenham, Norfolk, heard that the three men were initially spotted by an off-duty detective at Keeper's Wood near Thursford, in August last year. The following day plainclothes officers saw Leonard Read (61), Maurice Crawley (35), and Mark Lyons (25), all from Wisbech, at work. When police looked into Read's Ford Transit van they found more than 7,000 bluebell bulbs.