Man Sentenced After Protected Birds Hung From Village Shop Door in Shocking Wildlife Crime

Man Sentenced After Protected Birds Hung From Village Shop Door in Shocking Wildlife Crime

James ‘Jimmy’ Kempster has been sentenced after being found guilty of wildlife offences relating to the handling of the carcasses of two protected birds following a disturbing incident in a Hampshire village.

Police were called on 15 March 2024 after multiple reports that around 50 dead hares had been dumped outside Broughton Community Shop. The bodies of a dead barn owl and a kestrel had also been placed on the shop’s door handle, shocking local residents.

Before officers arrived, villagers gathered to clear away the grim scene.
Following an investigation, 39-year-old James ‘Jimmy’ Kempster, of Marchwood Road, Eling, was arrested after forensic testing found his DNA on both the barn owl and the kestrel.

Kempster denied any involvement and the case went to trial at Southampton Magistrates’ Court on 21 April 2026.
During the trial, the court heard CCTV footage showed a Suzuki Grand Vitara arriving at the shop in the early hours of 15 March 2024. Two men got out of the vehicle, scattered the dead hares across the ground, and one of them hung the two dead birds on the shop’s door handle.
The following day, officers on patrol in rural Test Valley discovered a burnt-out vehicle matching the description of the one seen on CCTV around three and a half miles from Broughton.

Magistrates ruled there was insufficient evidence to place Kempster at the scene when the carcasses were dumped. However, they accepted that he had handled the protected birds and found him 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, was also interviewed under caution during the investigation but was later released with no further action.

Appearing before Southampton Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday 23 June, Kempster was sentenced to a community order, rehabilitation activity requirements, and ordered to pay £884 in court costs.

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Posted: 2026-06-23T21:34:43+0000