Death of two hedgehogs

I read the following in Money Week today.:
" The Department for Environment etc ( DEFRA) has run up a bill of £50,000 for taxpayers over the alleged wrongful deaths of two hedgehogs. DEFRA said the animals were poisoned by Great Yarmouth Council, despite having no back-up from either the RSPCA or police. After a FOUR DAY trial, the judge threw the case out. DEFRA's wildlife adviser was forced to admit there was no conclusive evidence the hedgehogs had been killed by poison. Robert Whiley, the pest controller who had laid the poison in a pensioner's garden after she complained of rats, denied recklessly distributing it. When his level of training was questioned, he said " I've been on more courses than Lester Piggot."
I think several points emerge from this.
1) Judges in general retain their independence and common sense.
2) The Government and DEFRA in particular are complete morons, to whom OUR money is water through their fingers.
3) Robert Whiley has been on a number of pest control courses.
4) DEFRA, despite presumably having Government Laboratories at it's beck and call, couldn't prove there was any poison in the hedgehogs.
and finally 5) There are rats in Yarmouth.
I don't actually think any of this should come as a surprise to anyone. I am particularly enamoured of our judges, who seem to be that last bastion against the government and the taxman ( viz. Arctic case the other day).
If only there was more common sense around.