Hunter cleared over shooting of writer he mistook for a fox

Although there was no suggestion Mr Burns has shot Mr Lawson deliberately, the prosecutor, Neil Moore, argued unsuccessfully that he had acted recklessly.

But the jury of seven men and five women believed Mr Burns when he said he had been “100 per cent sure” that he had been shooting a fox, and took less than two hours of deliberation to unanimously clear him of causing grievous bodily harm.

Mr Burns hugged family members, who were weeping for joy, after the verdict was read out.

Stephen Betts, his solicitor, said afterwards: “He’s just very grateful, it was a tragic accident.”

Mr Lawson was not in court today but spoke later of the “massive” implications that the verdict has for the British public who wanted to walk in the countryside.

He said: “The reality of this is that I was out for an innocent and entirely legitimate walk on a public footpath and for the rest of my life, when I look in the mirror, I will see a one and a half foot scar running round my chest and up my back and I’ve only got one lung,

“If I put my finger in the hole in my ribcage where my ribs used to be, I can feel the blood pumping through my aorta.

“Nobody should have any more concern about walking on a public footpath at night than they should about walking on a pavement, and they should have nothing to fear from a responsible shooting profession.

“Many of our friends shoot and I’m sure none of them will believe this verdict, I think they will be absolutely stunned.

“The verdict is bad for shooting, it sends out entirely the wrong message to a minority of shooters who are irresponsible in their actions.”

He also confirmed that he would press on with suing Mr Burns.

“I’m self-employed, I’m married and I have got a mortgage, and anybody in my position would do so,” he said.

“I was out of work for six months and I’m still recovering, I still get out of breath walking up a flight of stairs.”

Mr Burns had two decades of shooting experience including “lamping” - a form of night hunting using a red filtered light which is difficult for the fox to see - without incident.

Under an arrangement with the farmer on whose land the accident happened, Mr Burns and a group of friends rear pheasants in pens and organise small-scale shoots.

With the farmer’s permission, he and his two fellow lampers would go on periodic expeditions to shoot foxes and protect their pheasants.

On the night of the accident the three had already shot one fox and were ready to turn in for the night when they decided to make one last visit to a field where one had earlier got away.

The lamp quickly picked up a fox and the court heard that Mr Burns had seen the whole animal three times before picking up a “massive set of eyes”.

Convinced that what he saw was the same fox he had seen moments earlier, Mr Burns pulled the trigger but to his horror heard Mr Lawson screaming in agony.

He quickly went to Mr Lawson’s aid and found him lying on the ground beside a track while one of his companions called an ambulance.

“I was just so shocked that I made this mistake,” he said. “When I got up to Mr Lawson I realised, I saw his binoculars on the ground and I thought, ‘that was what I shot’.”

Mr Burns said the memory of that night had haunted him. “I couldn’t actually think about anything else apart from Mr Lawson for months and months and months, I just couldn’t believe what I had done to him.”

Earlier in the trial, the jury heard how Mr Lawson reached for his mobile phone and pressed the redial button to call his wife whom he had spoken to earlier in the evening.

Mr Moore told the court: “She heard him say, ‘I’m going to die, I’ve been shot, I’m going to die, I love you’.”