Burnt-out car found in investigation into around 50 dead animals dumped outside Hampshire shop
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.
On the shop’s Facebook page, a post said: “Thank you all for popping in, messaging and phoning to make sure we are okay. We are okay, shocked but okay.”
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.
Police say they are keeping an “open mind” about whether the two incidents are linked.
Dead pheasants found outside Awbridge Primary School in 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.”
A workman saved a seven-year-old boy from a burning car in the aftermath of a deadly crash caused by a suicidal ex-pilot, an inquest has heard.
The schoolboy’s rescue came following the collision on the M6, which killed former RAF man Richard Woods and four others, in October last year.
Last week a coroner ruled that Woods, 40, took his own life by deliberately driving his Skoda the wrong way down the motorway while drunk and hitting a Toyota Yaris head-on.
The driver of the Toyota, Jaroslaw Rossa, 42, was also killed, along with his two sons, Filip, 15, and Dominic, seven, and his partner Jade McEnroe, 33.
Cockermouth Coroner’s Court heard on Thursday that Ms McEnroe’s son was also in the car but survived after workman Gavin Walsh came to his rescue at the scene, which was near Tebay services in Cumbria.
In a statement to the inquest, Mr Walsh said he was a passenger in a transit van travelling to Scotland when he witnessed the crash.
He jumped out of the vehicle and used a jack to smash the rear windscreen of the Toyota and pulled the boy out of the burning vehicle.
Mr Walsh said: “We really did try, I can assure everyone we did our best. We only had minimal time.
“I saved a life that day and I hope never to witness anything like that again.”
He added that he has never stopped thinking about the boy, and said: “I hope we will meet again one day and I will give you a massive hug.”
At the time, the family were returning to Glasgow from a trip to Legoland in Windsor, Berkshire.
The inquest heard that Wood, who was travelling at a speed of at least 65mph, would have been charged with manslaughter had he survived.
Recording conclusions of unlawful killing, Cumbria assistant coroner Margaret Taylor said: “I found that Jaroslaw, Jade, Filip and Dominic died as a consequence of the unlawful acts of another driver.”
The inquest heard how Mr Woods, from Cambridgeshire, had served a distinguished 14-year career in the RAF and was a flight instructor for BAE Systems at the time of his death.
Jade McEnroe. Pic: Cumbria Constabulary
Dominic and Filip. Pic: Cumbria Constabulary
In Ms Taylor’s record of inquest, Mr Woods was said to have been experiencing “a number of stressors in his life” and had a “history of harmful use of alcohol”.
Following the crash, he was found to be nearly four times over the legal drink-drive limit and a two-thirds empty bottle of gin was found in his car.
On the day of his death, concerns had been raised over his behaviour at a work conference near Preston in Lancashire.
Mr Woods failed to return to his seat after lunch and was later spotted driving erratically and swerving across three northbound carriageway lanes on the M6.
After pulling onto the hard shoulder, he then proceeded to U-turn and drove southward on lane three.
Filip, Dominic and Jaroslaw Rossa. Pic: Cumbria Constabulary
Detective Sergeant Deborah Story, from Cumbria Police, told the inquest that Mr Woods would have been prosecuted on four counts of manslaughter had he lived.
She said hypothetical charges of murder were considered by detectives but not thought appropriate because of a lack of information that Mr Woods knew the family or anything that provided a link between them.
Ms McEnroe’s parents, Marie McEnroe and George McNellis, told the coroner they thought it was “murder”.
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A statement from the mother of Filip and Dominic, and the ex-wife of Mr Rossa, Kamila, was read out at the inquest.
She said Mr Rossa, known as Jarek, was born in Poland where they became a couple and went on to have three boys.
He loved playing computer games and had “lots of friends”, she said, and worked at the Wagamama restaurant in Silverburn, Glasgow.
She said she was “devastated” over the deaths, adding: “Our lives will never be the same.
“I am heartbroken at the passing of my beloved angels Filip and Dominic.”
Marie McEnroe said her daughter, a spa therapist, had been in a relationship with Mr Rossa for about two-and-a-half years.
She said Jade had been a “brilliant mother” to her only child, was “really happy” with Mr Rossa and it was “lovely chaos” when all the boys were playing together.
Ms McEnroe added: “Life changed forever that day”.
Ms Taylor praised the “selfless acts of bravery” from those in the aftermath of the collision, including Mr Walsh, who she said went towards the burning car “without hesitation for his own safety”.
The coroner added: “Without his swift response, Jade’s child would also have perished.”
Addressing the bereaved family members, she said: “Your loss is unimaginable but you have conducted yourself with dignity and I thank you for that. I wish you strength for the future.”
Anyone feeling emotionally distressed or suicidal can call Samaritans for help on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org in the UK. In the US, call the Samaritans branch in your area or 1 (800) 273-TALK.
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