Category: Persecution Incidents in England

In April this year, James ‘Jimmy’ Kempster, 39, was found guilty of being in possession at some point of a Kestrel and a Barn Owl that had been found impaled on the door handle of a community shop in Broughton, Hampshire, in March 2024. DNA found on the birds was linked to Kempster.

He was found not guilty of criminal damage in relation to the dumping of 50 dead Hares that were strewn around the shop’s courtyard, with blood smeared on the shop windows, as the prosecution could not show beyond reasonable doubt that Kempster was present at the crime scene.

Sentencing was deferred until 23 June 2026 to allow for background reports to be prepared.

Kemspter, who has a string of at least 13 prior convictions, was given a 15-month community order including 30 days of rehabilitation activity and made subject to being monitored by an electronic tag for six months.

He was also fined £120 and ordered to pay costs of £650 with a £114 court surcharge.

Press release from Hampshire Constabulary (23 June 2026):

MAN SENTENCED FOR WILDLIFE OFFENCES IN BROUGHTON

A man has been sentenced for wildlife offences relating to handling the carcasses of two protected species of bird.

On 15 March 2024, police received multiple reports that a large pile of approximately 50 dead hares had been strewn across the floor outside Broughton Community Shop, and the bodies of a dead barn owl and kestrel were stuffed on to the shop’s door handle.

Local villagers turned up to help clean up the mess prior to police arriving.

Following a number of enquiries, 39-year-old James ‘Jimmy’ Kempster was arrested and subsequently charged with offences, after forensic testing of the carcasses showed that his DNA was present on the owl and the kestrel.

He denied any involvement, and the case went to trial at Southampton Magistrates Court on Tuesday 21 April 2026.

During the trial, the court heard how CCTV showed a Suzuki Grand Vitara turn up at the shop in the early hours of the morning on 15 March 2024. Two men exited the vehicle and began throwing the animal carcasses on the floor, and one of the men attached the dead birds to the shop’s door handle.

The following day, officers were out on patrol in rural Test Valley when they discovered a car similar to that captured on the CCTV burnt out approximately three and a half miles from Broughton.

Magistrates determined that, whilst the evidence was insufficient to place Kempster at the scene when the bodies were dumped, they accepted he had handled the dead birds at some point. Kempster was found guilty of possession of a dead schedule 1 wild bird, and possession of a dead non schedule 1 wild bird under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.

A second man, aged 29 years, was interviewed under caution by police as part of this investigation, but he was later released with no further action being taken.

Kempster, of Marchwood Road in Eling, appeared at Southampton Magistrates Court on Tuesday 23 June where he was sentenced to a community order, rehabilitation activity, and ordered to pay £884 in costs.

ENDS

There’s a bit more detail provided in this article on the BBC News website.

Previous blogs on this case see here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.

A trial is underway at Southampton Magistrates’ Court this week for a man who is accused of several offences relating to the dumping of 50 hares and two raptors (a Barn Owl and a Kestrel) outside a community shop in Broughton, Hampshire, in March 2024.

James Kempster, 39, of Totton, Southampton, is charged with two counts of possessing a dead bird under the Wildlife and Countryside Act and a charge of criminal damage to the shop front.

The court heard that the alleged incident was caught on CCTV in the early hours of 15th March 2024.

Prosecutor Adam Cooper said: “This is a horror movie scene outside a Broughton village shop – it’s a small Hampshire village.

“In the middle of the night, at 3.23am, three men arrived outside the shop by car, the driver remains in the car, having manoeuvred it to a position so the boot is adjacent to the forecourt.

“Two men get out. They are both dressed in tracksuits, hoods up, balaclavas covering their faces so neither can be identified.

“They get out to discard the bodies of 50 dead hares over the forecourt, strewn about deliberately to maximise their coverage. The Crown says one of those two men is James Kempster.

Mr Cooper said one of the men then “tears or rips the body of one of the hares in half, blood is dripping on the floor, wipes the shop front, smearing the blood”.

He then takes two birds, a Barn owl and a Kestrel, from the car before wiping them in the blood and “stuffing” them under the door handles, the prosecutor said.

Mr Cooper added that the man “then beckons the car to show the driver their handiwork, gets into the car and leaves“.

The prosecutor told the court that DNA found on the dead birds was matched to Kemspter. He was also linked to the incident through his mobile phone location, his clothing and connections to the car, which was found burnt out in a country lane.

Kempster denies the charges and the trial continues.

This trial had been originally scheduled to take place in May 2025. For previous blogs on the case see here, here, here, here, here and here.

NB: Comments are turned off as legal proceedings are still live.

UPDATE 25 April 2026: Man found not guilty of criminal damage relating to dumping of 50 dead Hares at Broughton Community Shop, but guilty of possession of dead Kestrel and Barn Owl (here)