YOU dirty rat. A bizarre tableau of stuffed animals is expected to fetch up to £3,000 when it comes under the hammer later this month.

The Trial Of A Rat For The Murder Of A Chick features more than a dozen birds and animals used to recreate the high drama of a murder trial.

The macabre display, which is in classic Victorian style and uses animals to mimic humans, is being sold by Dorchester auctioneers Hy Duke & Son.

The rat is at the centre of the display being held by two vicious-looking cockerels, while the mother of the murder victim looks on.

A wily weasel advises the wise owl judge on a point of law while a variety of creatures including the rat's family, a hedgehog and a blackbird look on from behind a rail at the back of the court.

The tableau was created by Grantley Berkeley, a member of the family of the Earls of Berkeley, whose ancestral home is Berkeley Castle in Gloucestershire.

The display, which is in a large glass case, is expected to fetch up to £3,000 when it is sold at the Dorchester salesroom on August 19 and 20.

It is being sold by a Dorset family that has owned it for many years but has now fallen out of love with it, said a spokesman for the auction house.

In its day it formed part of a famous collection of works of art belonging to the Stuart-Wortley family of Highcliffe Castle.

Matthew Denney of Duke's said: "Taxidermy on this scale is rare these days.

"There are collectors who are very keen to acquire objects of this type and we are certain to receive much interest from the UK and further afield.

"The standard of taxidermy that this lot exhibits is of the highest quality.

"The artist has managed to give the animals tremendous 'human' qualities, and it really is like a scene captured from an animal court room.

"One can only speculate at the outcome - and indeed how severe a penalty an owl would impose on a rat (with a young family) for the killing of a small chick."