Man sentenced for possessing dead birds dumped outside shop

A father of three has been sentenced for possessing two protected birds which were stuffed under the door handles of a village shop alongside 50 dead hares.

James Kempster, 39, who lives at a caravan site in Totton, Southampton, was convicted following a trial at Southampton Magistrates' Court of two counts of possessing a dead bird under the Wildlife and Countryside Act.

The court heard the barn owl and kestrel along with the hares were found dumped outside Broughton Community Shop in March 2024 with blood smeared on the window.

He was handed 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.

Sentencing Kempster, chairman of the magistrate panel Gary Chant told him: "There is some aggravation, you have previous convictions, you continue to deny the offence and there was minimal co-operation."

Adam Cooper, prosecuting, said Kempster had been convicted of possessing the birds at some point but found not guilty of a charge of criminal damage, meaning he was cleared of involvement in the shop incident.

The trial heard DNA found on the birds, which were dumped in the early hours of 15 March 2024, was linked to the defendant.

Cooper told the magistrates: "There was no expert evidence on the manner or time of death. Your worships are entitled to draw conclusions that the birds were recently killed rather than rotting specimens or for taxidermy.

"That therefore places the defendant's handling of the birds closer to them being discovered outside the shop."

The court heard Kempster, who is of a gypsy/traveller background and left school at the age of 12, had previous convictions for dishonesty as well as wildlife crimes including trespassing for game including for hares.

The trial was told CCTV footage showed three men arriving in a car with two men getting out and dumping the hares.

One of the men, who were both wearing balaclavas, is then seen to "tear" the body of a hare and smear blood on the shop front before stuffing a dead kestrel and a barn owl under the door handles in what Cooper described as a "horror movie scene".

The car was found burnt out in a country lane after the incident.