For avoidance of doubt, the full statement given to the newspaper was as follows:
A Spokesperson for The Scottish Gamekeepers Association said: “We understand that Chris Packham is a television celebrity. We understand he is contracted by the BBC to provide content on wildlife programmes.
“We understand and respect , therefore, that he would want to provide his view.
“We believe we undertook our duty to our members who felt that handwriting similarities that they alleged to have seen, ought to be investigated further.
“We did so, by taking external expert advice. We offered no comment on that advice. The Police have now decided not to pursue this. That is their calculation.
"We are satisfied that the 2 reports we commissioned were worthy of Police investigation, which is why they were given over. We know what the conclusions of these reports are and we will retain these for our members. We are 100% satisfied that the course of action we took, on behalf of our members, was the correct one. In similar circumstances, we would take exactly the same course of action again.”
*The reports commissioned were done so on behalf of the members which the SGA represents; members who asked that their organisation do so. They were not anything to do with a calculated plot, which commentators have suggested.
The reports were undertaken by professionals with long standing in providing handwriting analysis for court and other purposes.
The reports' conclusions of 'very strong evidence' and 'moderate' evidence were presented to Police, as per our members wishes. The Police have made a decision not to pursue the matter and our legal advisers will make inquiries regarding that decision. We know what these reports concluded and we retain them for our members.
If there are further updates on this matter, the SGA will make its members aware of them.
