BEAR GRYLLS SHOW STAR LOSES £500,000 FALCON DEATH COURT CASE

Barnes Thomas, a former contestant on survival television programme The Island, has lost a £500,000 Court of Appeal battle with two neighbours over the deaths of their racing falcons. The Appeal Court upheld an earlier High Court ruling that Mr Thomas's building work caused the deaths of three gyr falcons belonging to Martin Nicholas and Scott Nicholas, who operate a falcon breeding business called Raptors of Penwith Ltd adjacent to Mr Thomas's property in St Just, Cornwall. One of the deceased birds was valued at £150,000. Appeal judge Lady Justice Whipple dismissed Mr Thomas's challenge to the original decision, which required him and his company, Upper Cot Estate Limited, to pay compensation and legal costs totalling approximately £500,000.

Mr Thomas, 40, moved to St Just after working as a London art dealer to establish himself as a farmer. The Nicholas brothers, aged 43 and 45, alleged that noise from his construction work frightened their birds to death. Mr Thomas had argued during the appeal that holding him responsible was unfair, given that the falcons were "incredibly sensitive" animals susceptible to stress-induced mortality. The Court of Appeal rejected this submission and upheld the original judgment against him.

Lady Justice Whipple noted in her ruling that the dispute had "consumed a great deal of time and money for both sets of litigants" over an extended period. Mr Thomas appeared on The Island in 2018, later describing the experience as "the worst of my entire life". The ruling represents the final stage of legal proceedings in the long-running dispute between Mr Thomas and his Cornish neighbours.