This is the moment a man stuffed a beheaded swan into his rucksack before “taking the bird home to put in the freezer”.

Hasan Fidan, 46, was arrested after angler Bob Morris handed the photo into police, showing Fidan at a beauty spot in Hildenborough, Kent.

Police are believed to have found the swan, chopped into pieces and jammed into Fidan’s freezer when they traced him to his home in Tonbridge.

Mr Morris, 64, who runs a rod-making firm in Dartford, said: “I was about 200ft away when I saw this man in a red jacket jump over a fence and grab a swan and sit down on it.

“He then took a knife off and cut it’s head off at the bottom of the neck. I was stunned, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.”

He added: “It was a very unpleasant incident and left me quite shaken, but I managed to get the photo which helped get him caught.”

Until 1998 it was considered treason to kill a swan. Today, under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 it is an offence to kill, injure or harm a wild bird and can carry a fine of up to £5,000 and six months in prison.

The Queen still retains the right to ownership of all unmarked mute swans in open water, but only exercises her rights on certain stretches of the Thames and surrounding tributaries.

On Tuesday at Sevenoaks magistrates’ court Fidan was fined £110, with £85 in court costs and a £20 victim surcharge, after he admitted to killing the swan on March 18.

Mr Morris said: “How can they justify giving him a fine of just £110? You get that for dropping litter or not cleaning up after your dog.”