A HADDINGTON man who illegally shot and killed a deer and was then caught with the animal’s carcass has avoided a jail sentence, despite a sheriff stating that “the custody threshold has been met”.

John Smedley admitted killing the roe deer without lawful permission at an area at Morham on April 23 last year.

He also pleaded guilty to possessing the dead animal at a house in North Berwick on the same day when he appeared at Edinburgh Sheriff Court in November last year.

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Smedley, 56, also admitted to a third offence of possessing a Texan air rifle lethal load weapon without lawful authority at Morham between April 16 and 23 last year.

Sentence had been deferred for reports and he returned to the dock for sentencing on Friday, where Sheriff Matthew Auchincloss ordered Smedley, of Priory Walk, to carry out 60 hours of unpaid work.

The sheriff also fined Smedley £800 and told him “it's certainly not acceptable” to kill and poach the animals.

Sheriff Auchincloss added that he found the “the custody threshold has been met” but there was an alternative to a custodial sentence in this case.

A motion by the Crown to have the rifle and ammunition forfeited was also granted.

The four deer species found in Scotland – red, roe, fallow and sika – are protected under the Deer (Scotland) Act 1996 and permission to shoot them must be granted by the relevant authorities.

Smedley pleaded guilty to a contravention of the Firearm Act 1968 by being in possession of the rifle without lawful authority at Morham between April 16 and 23 last year.

He also admitted to two contraventions of the Deer (Scotland) Act 1996 by killing the roe deer without permission at Morham and to being in possession of the carcass at an address in North Berwick, both on April 23 last year.

Smedley had not guilty pleas accepted by the Crown to charges of possessing a hunting knife and two allegations of knife possession.