A man found tangled in a barbed wire fence with a fatal gunshot wound in the Upper Hunter Valley has been identified as prominent business man and horse racing identity Martin Hawcroft.
Detectives are investigating the death but it appears the 53-year-old suffered a fatal wound to the stomach when a firearm discharged as he attempted to climb through a barbed wire fence on his Sandy Hollow property.
Mr Hawcroft was the managing director of Byerley Stud, a 400 hectare farming and horse breeding business, near Sandy Hollow.
He was also the managing director of Newcastle hotel, Noah’s On The Beach.
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