Pigeon Man Of Morecambe Jailed For Feeding Birds

A campaign has been launched to free the ‘Pigeon Man of Morecambe’ who has been jailed for six weeks for feeding local birds. 

John Wilkinson – known as the ‘pigeon man’ in a little-known nod to a popular children’s TV show episode – received an Anti-Social Behaviour Order (ASBO) in December 2012 stating that if he continued to feed local pigeons he would be jailed.

On Friday he received a six week prison sentence at Lancashire Magistrates Court, after it heard that he had breached the order on numerous occasions. The Pigeon Man was a well-known figure in the town and locals have setup a Facebook page campaigning for his release.

Since his latest warning in November Mr Wilkinson had continued to feed the pigeons but in a part of the town that he thought was away from prying eyes, sadly he was wrong. 

One local supporter wrote on Facebook: “He doesn’t deserve a six week prison sentence for what he did… Yes he did get an ASBO along with warnings, if he causes a nuisance then he’ll will be put away. So what does he do, he stays away from the public and keeps to the quiet part of the prom to feed his birds,

“Now we have real criminals who truly deserve prison, yet they get less than him.”

But a council spokesperson told the Morecambe Visitor: “Mr Wilkinson had been given every opportunity to comply with the conditions of his ASBO and fully understood the consequences of choosing not to do so.”

One local insider told Breitbart London: “Wilkinson is a well-liked local eccentric his house is surrounded by pigeons all the time. Local residents find them a nuisance and local children end up as the unfortunate victims of the diet he feeds them.”

As a seaside town Morecambe has large numbers of pigeons anyway, so feeding them can make the problem unbearable.