Brian Fraser was cleared of attempting to murder showjumper Louise Leggatt, pictured right by Jim Bennett

by Keith Hunt

A hunt master cleared of trying to kill his ex-lover after she dumped him could still face jail for possessing a shotgun without a certificate.

Contract farmer Brian Fraser was given the warning by a judge who branded him "a risk".

The 63-year-old joint master of Ashford Valley Hunt looked relieved as a jury acquitted him of attempted murder and an alternative charge of causing grievous bodily harm with intent following seven hours of deliberation.

Judge Charles Byers said: "It was not an easy case for any jury to decide."

Fraser (pictured right on a hunt in 2005) had claimed he did not have a shotgun when questioned by police investigating the shooting of divorcee Louise Leggatt as she tended her horses at night.

But following a tip-off by one of Mrs Leggatt's sons, the weapon was discovered in a hay bale at his farm in Criol Lane, Shadoxhurst, Ashford. He admitted the possession charge.

The judge said after the jury of six men and six women returned unanimous verdicts: "It was an extremely irresponsible thing to have done, and the manner of its keeping is not just a clerical error.

"It could have fallen into the wrong hands. It could have fallen into the hands of children. To keep a shotgun secreted in a barn and to lie about it, in my view he is a risk."

Adjourning sentence for reports until March 18 and granting bail, the judge added: "He must understand he is very much at risk of a custodial sentence for this.

"I have never come across such a lackadaisical and irresponsible attitude to firearms, especially from a man who is described as a countryman."

Maidstone Crown Court heard Fraser was alleged to have lurked in bushes at night and shot the 54-year-old showjumper, with whom he had a five-year relationship.

She had previously suspected her former husband Philip Gorringe, 62, of burning down her home and believed he could be responsible for the shooting.

Mr Gorringe, pictured right, was arrested but later released and Fraser was then charged.

Fraser at first claimed he neither had a gun nor had gone out the evening Mrs Leggatt was gunned down.

But a single barrelled shotgun was found in the barn and CCTV at the farm revealed he had driven out and returned at the crucial times.

The mother-of-two was renting a house at Apple Pie Farm in Benenden after her house, Pippins, next door was torched two months before on January 18.

Judge Byers said he was prepared to grant Fraser bail conditional on residence at his 53-acre farm. A curfew was lifted.

He was banned from contacting Mrs Leggatt or her two sons until a restraining order had been considered.

The judge said he had the power to make such an order "even in the face of an acquittal".