A leading Kent huntsman has been sent to prison for eight months after pleading guilty to possessing a firearm without a licence.
Ex-master of the Ashford Valley Hunt Brian Fraser, 63, had earlier been cleared of the attempted murder of his former lover Louise Leggatt.
Fraser, of Criol Lane, Shadoxhurst, was also cleared of grievous bodily harm at Maidstone Crown Court in February.
Mrs Leggatt suffered leg injuries when she was shot on 15 March 2012.
She was attacked when she went to tend her horses at Apple Pie Farm in Benenden.
The court heard police had found an old, single-barrelled shotgun hidden between two hay bales on Fraser’s land, along with some cartridges.
He initially said he had not owned a shotgun for 20 years, but when officers disclosed that one had been found on his land he suggested he was being framed.
But later he admitted he did own the gun, telling officers it had been handed down to him by his father.
After the trial, Judge Charles Byers said: “I have never come across such a lackadaisical and irresponsible attitude to firearms, particularly from someone described as a countryman.”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-kent-21830356