A COUPLE who breached a court order by failing to quell the noise of their tropical bird collection escaped the threat of a jail term - but were warned to get rid of the offending birds or face the consequences.

Mr Justice Hart found both Anthony Ward and Sarah Moore in contempt of court over failures to demolish aviaries, remove the birds, and stop the noise nuisance despite a High Court order to that effect made on June 22.

He said that, although they had taken "significant steps" to reduce the noise by "corralling" the 100 remaining macaws, kookaburras and parakeets into a brick shed on their land in Highfield Close, Sway, the noise nuisance had still not been eradicated.

The couple had also delayed demolishing the aviaries used to house the birds despite the court order telling them to do so, while they were also in contempt of an order directing them to cease keeping any birds on the land.

But the judge declined to impose a prison term or suspended custodial sentence, observing that neither Mr Ward nor his partner had deliberately set out to "defy" the court.

Both had belatedly made efforts to comply with the court orders and there was no "deliberate flouting of the law", he said.

Part of the difficulty of the case was that New Forest District Council had given little thought to reducing the scope of the court order so that some provision could be made for the keeping of at least a few birds on the premises, he said.

But he urged the couple: "So far as the future is concerned it seems clear that, unless the 100 tropical birds which represent the core of the original collection are removed from the premises as soon as possible, then you will find yourselves still in contempt of court and exposed to a possible future application before the court."

Mr Ward and Ms Moore were ordered to pay the legal costs of the hearing.

New Forest District Council went to court over breaches of Mr Justice Laddie's June 22 injunction barring the couple from keeping birds on the site.

The case had first spilled over into the High Court after the council received a volley of complaints from neighbours about the exotic birds' "dawn chorus" shattering their peace.

First published: September 22