Man found guilty over birds of prey dumped outside Hampshire village shop

A man has been found guilty of possessing the bodies of wild birds of prey that were dumped alongside 50 dead hares outside a village shop in Hampshire.

Traces of James Kempster’s DNA were found on a barn owl and kestrel that were rammed into the handles of the volunteer-led shop in Broughton.

However, magistrates in Southampton said the evidence did not show Kempster, 39, was a hooded person who threw the hares on to the paved area in front of the shop, left the birds in the door and smeared blood on the windows. They cleared him of criminal damage.

The court heard that Kempster, a roofer and father of three from Totton in the New Forest, has criminal convictions for poaching and will be sentenced over the birds of prey in June.

Magistrates were told that three men went to the shop in the early hours of 15 March 2024 and turned it into a “horror movie scene”. A Suzuki Vitara 4x4 they used to get to the village was found burnt out a few miles away.

The incident left residents of the village, home to about 1,000 inhabitants, unsettled and upset and prompted an investigation by Hampshire police officers, who obtained DNA samples from the owl and kestrel.

Techniques for obtaining samples from animal carcasses have improved, partly thanks to work in Scotland where raptor persecution is an issue.

Kassandra Harris, an expert in DNA profiling, told the court the DNA found on the owl came from two people. She said: “It’s a billion times more likely the DNA originates from James Kempster and another individual [unrelated to him] rather than two individuals unrelated to James Kempster.”

When interviewed by police, Kempster denied being involved in the attack on the shop but admitted he knew Broughton because his father used to keep horses there.

In the witness box, Kempster repeatedly denied being involved and said he had no idea how his DNA got on the owl and kestrel.

He was found guilty of two counts of possessing a live or dead wild bird under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. The maximum penalty is six months in prison.

Adam Cooper, prosecuting, said: “This case is about a horror movie scene outside Broughton community shop.”

Dagan James, a farmer who helped clear the hares and birds, told the court some had been freshly killed.