Man cleared of smearing blood of hare over shop door
50 hares were dumped outside a shop
A father-of-three 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, who lives at a caravan site in Totton, Southampton, was on trial at Southampton Magistrates’ Court after 50 hares were dumped outside Broughton Community Shop in the early hours of March 15, 2024.
Adam Cooper, prosecuting, told the court CCTV footage showed three men arrive in a car, with two men getting out and dumping the hares.
One of the men, both of whom were wearing balaclavas, is then seen to “tear” the body of a hare and smear blood on the store front before stuffing a dead kestrel and a barn owl under the door handles in what Mr Cooper described as a “horror movie scene”.
The car was found burnt-out in a country lane after the incident, the court heard.
The magistrates found 39-year-old Kempster guilty of two counts of possessing a dead bird under the Wildlife and Countryside Act.
The prosecution said DNA from two people found on the owl was a billion times more likely to have come from Kempster and an unknown individual than from two individuals not related to the defendant, with weaker DNA evidence linking him to the kestrel as well.
Kevin White, the chairman of the bench, said the DNA evidence proved the defendant was in possession of the two birds at some point.
But he said there was “insufficient evidence” to convict Kempster of being present at the time of the Broughton incident, explaining the trousers he was wearing did not match CCTV footage of the defendant at a petrol station a day earlier.
The magistrates ordered a pre-sentence report to be produced on Kempster and warned him they are considering all options, including custody, for the two offences, which carry a maximum penalty of six months’ imprisonment or a fine.
Mr White told the defendant: “We need to know more about you and the circumstances around these events.
“The more we understand, the more likely we are to give a sentence that is appropriate.”
Giving evidence, Kempster denied being the man shown on the CCTV putting the hares in front of the shop and the two birds under the door handles.
When asked what he was doing that night, the unemployed roofer said: “I can’t remember last week let alone two years ago.”
When Mr Cooper asked the defendant how his DNA was found at the scene, Kempster replied: “The only way I can explain, it is transferrable DNA.”
The defendant also denied burning out the car used in the incident.
Kempster will be sentenced at the same court on June 23.