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Police investigating an incident in which dozens of dead animals were dumped outside a Hampshire shop have found a burnt-out Suzuki Grand Vitara believed to be linked to the case.

Warning: This story contains images and descriptions readers may find distressing

Hampshire Police has urged the public to send any CCTV or dash cam images of cars matching this description in the Test Valley area at the time of the incident.

“Officers are following all possible lines of enquiry and will be in the area today to provide reassurance to local residents,” the force said in a statement.

The bodies of around 50 dead hares as well as a barn owl and a kestrel, were discovered by a member of staff who had gone to open up Broughton Community Shop on Friday.

The barn owl and kestrel were “stuffed” on the door handles and blood was smeared on the windows, the shop’s treasurer said.

The shop wrote on its Facebook page: “Thank you all for popping in, messaging and phoning to make sure we are ok. We are ok, shocked but ok.”

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Police had previously appealed for information about a silver Suzuki car that may have been in the area between Thursday night and Friday morning.

“It was bedlam, it was just covered in dead hares, all the way across this paving here, horrifying,” the shop’s treasurer Mike Hensman told Sky News.

“And on the door there was a dead raptor, bird of prey, and an owl impaled on the door handles. And there was blood everywhere.”

He described how shocked staff and villagers had to remove the remains.

“We cleared it all up, got the police in, had to wash all the windows down and get rid of everything.

“We got a local farmer here to get rid of all the dead hares and we just got on with business because that’s what you do in a community. We’re servicing the community. We just had to keep going.”

He believes the shop was targeted because the entrance is “tucked away”.

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“A shop on the high street you wouldn’t have been able to do it because there would have been cars going by. It’s tucked away so someone’s able to get a car round here and have a party with some dead hares. It’s ridiculous.

“It made entertainment for them and caused a problem for us… it could have been anywhere.”

It is the second time in recent weeks that the local area has been targeted.

Carcasses of pheasants, chickens and hares were dumped outside Awbridge Primary School, around six miles from Broughton, last month.

Dead pheasants found outside Awbridge Primary School in a another incident in February. Pic: Solent Photo Agency
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Dead pheasants found outside Awbridge Primary School in a another incident in February. Pic: Solent Photo Agency

Tony Lowry, a local wildlife and conservation warden, believes rival criminal groups who travel from outside the area are to blame.

He claims it’s driven by gambling: “Money, betting between groups, that’s basically what it’s about…How many animals they’re going to kill in one night, how big an animal?

“We’ve had instances of deers’ ears being chopped off to prove they’ve actually got them, taken them away. We find piles of animals with no ears, we have done in the past. Terrible.

“I’m a country person, I’m a gamekeeper and so my work does involve killing, but that is just killing for no reason at all.”

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Kids ‘sleep with vapes under pillows’ – but will sales ban on disposables have any effect?

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Kids 'sleep with vapes under pillows' - but will sales ban on disposables have any effect?

As a ban on the sale of disposable vapes comes into force on Sunday, a doctor who set up the first-ever clinic to help children stop vaping has said she has seen patients so addicted they couldn’t sleep through the night without them.

Professor Rachel Isba established the clinic at Alder Hey Hospital in Liverpool in January and has now seen several patients as young as 11 years old who are nicotine dependent.

“Some of the young people vape before they get out of bed. They are sleeping with them under their pillow,” she told Sky News.

Professor Rachel Isba set up the first-ever stop vaping clinic for children
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Professor Rachel Isba set up the first-ever stop vaping clinic for children

“I’m hearing stories of some children waking up at three o’clock in the morning, thinking they can’t sleep, thinking the vape will help them get back to sleep. Whereas, actually, that’s the complete opposite of how nicotine works.”

Ms Isba said most of her patients use disposable vapes, and while some young people may use the chance to give up, others will simply move to refillable devices after the ban.

“To me, vaping feels quite a lot like the beginning of smoking. I’m not surprised, but disappointed on behalf of the children that history has repeated itself.”

A government ban on single-use vapes comes into effect from Sunday, prohibiting the sale of disposable vaping products across the UK, both online and in-store, whether or not they contain nicotine.

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The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said usage among young vapers remained too high, and the ban would “put an end to their alarming rise in school playgrounds and the avalanche of rubbish flooding the nation’s streets”.

A sign for customers at a Tesco store in Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire, advising customers that the sale of disposable vapes will end on 30 May 2025. Picture date: Wednesday May 14, 2025. Pic: PA
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Pic: PA

Circular economy minister Mary Creagh said: “For too long, single-use vapes have blighted our streets as litter and hooked our children on nicotine. That ends today. The government calls time on these nasty devices.”

At nearby Shrewsbury House Youth Club in Everton, a group of 11 and 12-year-old girls said vape addiction is already rife among their friends.

Yasmin Dumbell said: “Every day we go out, and at least someone has a vape. I know people who started in year five. It’s constantly in their hand.”

Yasmin Dumbell says she knows students who started vaping in year five
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Yasmin Dumbell says she knows students who started vaping in year five

Her friend Una Quayle said metal detectors were installed at her school to try to stop pupils bringing in vapes, and they are having special assemblies about the dangers of the devices.

But, she said, students “find ways to get around the scanners though – they hide them in their shorts and go to the bathroom and do it”.

Una Quayle says metal detectors installed at her school won't stop students using vapes
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Una Quayle says metal detectors installed at her school won’t stop students using vapes

The girls said the ban on disposables is unlikely to make a difference for their friends who are already addicted.

According to Una, they’ll “find a way to get nicotine into their system”.

As well as trying to address the rise in young people vaping, the government hopes banning single-use vapes will reduce some of the environmental impact the devices have.

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Although all vapes can be recycled, only a tiny proportion are – with around eight million a week ending up in the bin or on the floor.

Pulled apart by hand

Even those that are recycled have to be pulled apart by hand, as there is currently no way to automate the process.

Scott Butler, executive director of Material Focus, a recycling non-profit group, said vapes were “some of the most environmentally wasteful, damaging, dangerous consumer products ever sold”.

His organisation worries that with new, legal models being designed to almost exactly mimic disposables in look and feel – and being sold for a similar price – people will just keep throwing them away.

He said the behaviour “is too ingrained. The general public have been told ‘vapes are disposable’. They’ve even been marketed this way. But they never were disposable”.

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Why stockpiling vapes could be dangerous – as ban on disposables nears

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Why stockpiling vapes could be dangerous - as ban on disposables nears

A ban on disposable vapes comes into force on Sunday, with a warning issued about the “life-threatening dangers” of stockpiling.

From Sunday it will be illegal for any business to sell or supply, or have in their possession for sale, all single-use or disposable vapes.

Online nicotine retailer Haypp said 82% of the 369 customers they surveyed plan to bulk purchase the vapes before they are no longer available.

But the vapes contain lithium batteries and could catch fire if not stored correctly.

A sign for customers at a Tesco store in Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire, advising customers that the sale of disposable vapes will end on 30 May 2025. Picture date: Wednesday May 14, 2025. Pic: PA
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A sign for customers at a Tesco store in Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire. Pic: PA

While more than a third (34%) of people surveyed by Haypp said they would consider buying an illegal vape after the ban, the overall number of people using disposable products has fallen from 30% to to 24% of vapers, according to Action on Smoking and Health.

Shops selling vapes are required to offer a “take back” service, where they accept vapes and vape parts that customers return for recycling – including single use products.

Read more: Everything you need to know about the ban

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The Local Government Association (LGA) led the call for a ban two years ago, due to environmental and wellbeing concerns, and is warning people not to stockpile.

Cllr David Fothergill, chairman of the LGA’s Community Wellbeing Board, said: “Failing to store disposable vapes correctly could cost lives, given the significant fire risk they pose.”

How disposable vapes catch fire – or even explode

Figures obtained by the Electric Tobacconist, via Freedom of Information requests, found an increase in vape related fires – from 89 in 2020 to 399 in 2024.

Many disposable vapes use cheap, or even unregulated lithium-ion batteries, to keep the costs down. These batteries often lack proper safety features, like thermal cut offs, making them more prone to overheating and catching fire.

If the battery is damaged, or overheats in any way it can cause thermal runaway – a chain reaction where the battery’s temperature rapidly increases, causing it to overheat uncontrollably.

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Then, once these fires start start, they are very hard to stop. Water alone can make things worse if the battery is still generating heat, so they require specialised fire suppressants to put them out.

Batteries can then re-ignite hours, or even days later, making them a persistent hazard.

Disposable vapes are a hazard for waste and litter collection and cause fires in bin lorries, even though customers have been warned not to throw them away in household waste. They are almost impossible to recycle because they are designed as one unit so the batteries cannot be separated from plastic.

Some 8.2 million units were thrown away, or recycled incorrectly, every week prior to the ban.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said usage among young vapers remained too high, and the ban would “put an end to their alarming rise in school playgrounds and the avalanche of rubbish flooding the nation’s streets”.

Circular economy minister Mary Creagh said: “For too long, single-use vapes have blighted our streets as litter and hooked our children on nicotine. That ends today.

“The government calls time on these nasty devices.”

‘One in five say they will return to cigarettes’

Separate research by life insurance experts at Confused.com found two in five people (37%) planned to stop vaping when the ban starts.

Nearly one in five (19%) said they would return to cigarettes once the ban comes into force.

The research was based on the answers of 500 UK adults who currently vape.

Vaping and smoking also appears to be on the rise, with Confused.com saying there was a 44% increase in the number of people declaring they smoke or vape on their life insurance policy since 2019.

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Russell Brand: Comedian and actor pleads not guilty to rape and sexual assault charges

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Russell Brand: Comedian and actor pleads not guilty to rape and sexual assault charges

Russell Brand has pleaded not guilty to rape and sexual assault charges as he appeared in court in London.

The British comedian and actor, from Hambleden in Buckinghamshire, was charged by post last month with one count each of rape, indecent assault and oral rape as well as two counts of sexual assault.

The charges relate to alleged incidents involving four separate women between 1999 and 2005.

The 49-year-old, who has been living in the US, was flanked by two officers as he pleaded not guilty to all the charges at Southwark Crown Court today.

Russell Brand appears at Southwark Crown Court.
Pic: Reuters
Image:
Russell Brand appears at Southwark Crown Court. Pic: Reuters

Brand stood completely still and looked straight ahead as he delivered his pleas.

The comedian, who has consistently denied having non-consensual sex since allegations were first aired two years ago, is due to stand trial in June 2026.

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Russell Brand arrives in court
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Russell Brand arrives at Southwark Crown Court on Friday

He previously told his 11.2 million followers on X that he welcomed the opportunity to prove his innocence.

The allegations were first made in a joint investigation by The Sunday Times, The Times and Channel 4 Dispatches in September 2023.

As Friday’s hearing finished, Brand replaced his sunglasses before exiting the dock and calmly walking past reporters.

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