A driver who faced criminal charges for picking a dead deer up off a road says he found the experience "utterly surreal".

Guy Carpenter, 42, from Dalton, near Thirsk, North Yorkshire, found the animal on the A66 near Barnard Castle, County Durham, on 7 June this year.

As he was picking the carcass up, he was stopped by passing police officers who told him he was breaking the law. He was later charged under the Deer Act and taken to court.

Durham Police said it had withdrawn proceedings against Carpenter after a review, because it accepted he "had a genuinely-held belief that he was allowed to remove the animal".

Carpenter said he had endured a "horrible year" as a result of proceedings against him.

He said he had found the deer in the central reservation of the road at Greta Bridge and intended to take it home to "put it in the freezer" and later eat it.

However, when stopped by officers he said he was told he was committing an offence because the roadkill was not on his own property and he was "stealing from the council".

The photographer and church magazine editor said: "They told me to leave the deer and they took my details. The whole thing was pretty disturbing to start with and it was a bit of shock.

"It seemed to be far-fetched that it was stealing from the council."

Two months later, Carpenter said he received a letter through the post informing him he was being charged, with National Highways, rather than Durham County Council, eventually clarified as being the owner of the land.

The Deer Act 1991 states it is an offence to remove a deer carcass, but a person is not guilty if they believed "they would have the consent of the owner or occupier of the land".

Carpenter said he found it unlikely a public body would object to him removing the deer given the cost of cleaning it up themselves.

At Peterlee Magistrates' Court in September, Carpenter said he was offered the chance to accept an out-of-court caution in exchange for no further action, but was reluctant to do so because it would result in a criminal record.

The case was adjourned, before police informed him on 19 October that proceedings against him would be dropped.

Carpenter said: "I'm grateful the police dropped it but it shouldn't have got to that stage in the first place.

"Nobody in their right mind could have thought that a prosecution was in the public interest, but I don't know why it took five months and a superintendent to work that out."

A Durham Police spokesperson said: "There is a common misconception that deer carcasses can be removed from the roadside without permission of the landowner. It is, in fact, an offence to do so under the Deer Act 1991.

"However, in this specific case, we understand that Mr Carpenter had a genuinely-held belief that he was allowed to remove the animal from the roadside and the case has therefore been withdrawn."

Listen to highlights from North Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.