Man cleared of dumping dead animals outside shop

A man has been found not guilty of causing criminal damage to a village shop by smearing the blood of a hare over the front door but has been convicted of possessing two protected birds.

James Kempster, 39, was on trial at Southampton Magistrates' Court after 50 hares were dumped outside Broughton Community Shop in the early hours of 15 March 2024.

The court heard CCTV footage showed three men in balaclavas unloading the animals, leaving what prosecutors described as a "horror movie scene".

He was found guilty of two counts of possessing the dead birds under the Wildlife and Countryside Act but not guilty of criminal damage. He will be sentenced at the same court on 23 June.

Delivering the verdict, lead magistrate Kevin White said the bird offences were matters of strict liability, meaning a reason for possession was not required.

He said DNA evidence linking Kempster to the birds was sufficient for conviction.

About 50 hares were dumped at the scene, with one man seen to tear a hare and smear blood across the shopfront, the court was told.

The bodies of a kestrel and a barn owl were also "stuffed" under the shop's door handles by the same man.

The vehicle used in the incident was later found burnt out in a country lane.

However, magistrates said there was not enough evidence to prove Kempster, who lives in Totton, was responsible for the damage at the shop.

They said clothing seen in CCTV footage did not match items linked to Kempster, noting a difference in a logo on trousers worn by one of the suspects.

Prosecutor Adam Cooper had told the court Kempster's DNA had been found on the birds and argued he must have handled them or been in possession of them.

He said that while much of the case was circumstantial, taken together it formed a "compelling" body of evidence.

But Juliet Osborne, defending, said there was "simply not enough evidence" for the court to be sure of Kempster's involvement in the wider incident.

Giving evidence, Kempster denied being involved and said he could not explain how his DNA came to be at the scene, suggesting it may have been "transferable".

He also told the court he would not have identified those responsible even if he knew.

"I'm not a grass," he said.

The court heard that Kempster had 13 previous convictions for 15 offences. They included three game poaching convictions between 2009 and 2020.