TEENAGER Raphael  Thomas has admitted killing  a pigeon in front of city centre  shoppers —so that he could  eat it.

 Thomas, 19, was carrying a  Ray Mears book about how to  survive in the wild when he  battered the pigeon with a  skateboard— hitting it three  times — and then twisting its  neck.

He put the dead bird in his  rucksack and told a horrified  onlooker: “I’m going to eat  it.”

The onlooker, who was  passing by with his wife when  he witnessed the killing,  called police and followed  Thomas until they arrived.

 Prosecutor Alison Jordan  told the court the bird was  killed near the church in the  Guildhall Shopping Centre at  2.30pm on Remembrance  Sunday.

She said Thomas’s friends  told the witness: “He is going  to eat it. Get over it.”

Police searched Thomas  and found the pigeon inside  his backpack. He told police:  “I killed the pigeon.”

He said he found the skateboard in an alleyway.

About the pigeon, he  told  them: “It looked like a healthy  one,” adding that he intended  to eat it.

He was arrested.

Thomas, of Chapel Street,  Sidbury, near Sidmouth,  pleaded guilty to intentionally killing a wild bird, a pigeon, contrary to the Wildlife  and Countryside Act 1981.

The court was told he had  no previous convictions.

Mitigating, Jeremy Tricks  described the case as “an odd  one” and criticised the Crown  Prosecution Service.

“I imagine the Crown are  embarrassed in bringing  this case,” he told Exeter  magistrates.

“I’m a country boy,” he  continued: “It’s a pigeon. I do  not see how anyone has been  hurt by this and I see it as a  waste of resources.”

He said Thomas was  brought up in a rural environment in France and  Wales and that they eat a  variety of wild meat.

Mr Tricks, who said he  was a pigeon eater himself,  told the court: “If he has  made a mistake and misjudged the situation and the  squeamishness of the public,  and if any one was upset, he  is sorry.”

He told the court police  found a Ray Mears book in  Thomas’s bag about how to  live in the wild which he said  was the motive for killing the  bird.

He added: “He has eaten  many in the past— not ones  in the city.”

Mr Tricks told the court  there was a lot of fuss about  pigeons at Wimbledon being  shot last year because they  were getting in the way of the  tennis players but no one  had been prosecuted for  that.

Thomas spent 10 hours in  police custody.

Mr Tricks added: “Police  then threw the pigeon away  which is a bit of a waste,  especially when the deed  had been done.”

Magistrates sentenced  Thomas to a three-month  conditional discharge and  ordered that he pay £85  costs.

 After the hearing, Thomas  told the Echo he thought the  case was ridiculous.

He said: “I did not kill the  animal as an act of cruelty. I  actually wanted to eat the  animal. I did not mean to  shock anyone.”

About the £85 costs, he  said: “I feel ripped off. I could  have bought several pigeons  for that.”

A Crown Prosecution Service spokesperson said: “The  defendant does not deny that  he committed an offence, indeed he pleaded guilty.

 “Given the manner in  which he killed the pigeon  and the time and place of the  killing, it was clearly in the  public interest to prosecute  him.”

Tony Whitehead, from the  Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, welcomed  the prosecution and said:  “All wild birds are protected  quite rightly under the law  and have been for many  years.”