TWO NEW Forest men were convicted of various offences of causing significant harm in the Bransgore area. 

Brothers, Kristen Christopher Cooper, 24, of Whitelands in Bransgore and Todd James Edward Cooper, 28, of Jubilee Court in Sway appeared at Southampton Crown Court on Monday 21 August to face charges of assault, criminal damage, and threats to cause injury during a five-day trial.

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The court heard how both brothers and another man chased a member of the public into a Co-Op store on Betsy Lane on Saturday, March 4 just prior to 5pm.

This person was pushed to the floor before a catapult fired an item in his direction. The Cooper brothers and their accomplice then fled the scene. 

No injuries were caused. 

Later the same day, at about 7.30pm, an additional incident took place outside the same Co-Op store on Betsy Lane. 

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CCTV recordings showed a black SUV ramming into the back of a Vauxhall Astra – pushing the Astra into a parked car, before the occupants of the SUV vacated the vehicle and confronted those in the other vehicle.

Kristen and Todd Cooper were identified as the men in the SUV, who had caused damage to the Vauxhall Astra using a crowbar and a baseball bat. A catapult – utilising a ball bearing – was fired into the vehicle.

The ball bearing was later seized by police when the vehicle was recovered for evidential purposes.

On Friday, August 25, the jury returned a verdict at Southampton Crown Court finding both Kristen Cooper and Todd Cooper guilty of two counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, two counts of making threats to cause injury with offensive weapons and one count of criminal damage.

They have been remanded in custody, with the case being adjourned for sentencing at Southampton Crown Court on a currently undefined date.