Traveller ordered to pay £800 for possessing bodies of barn owl and kestrel that were dumped with 50 dead hares in 'horror movie scene' outside village shop

By OLIVIA DAY, ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR, AUSTRALIA Published: 13:02, 23 June 2026 | Updated: 13:07, 23 June 2026 A traveller has been ordered to pay £800 after he was convicted of possessing the bodies of a barn owl and a kestrel that were dumped alongside 50 dead hares outside a village shop in scenes described as a 'horror movie'.  James Kempster, 39, was given a fine and a six-month community order on Tuesday after his DNA was found on the wild birds of prey, both of which are protected.  The bodies of the two birds were dumped alongside 50 hare carcasses outside the Broughton Community Shop in Hampshire at 3.23am on March 15, 2024.  CCTV footage captured the disturbing moment the hares were flung across the forecourt and the kestrel and barn owl are dumped by the door. Prosecutors alleged Kempster, wearing a balaclava and tracksuit, started 'ripping' hares in half as he tossed them on the ground - leaving 'blood dripping on the floor'. Although Kempster was found guilty of being in possession of the birds at some point, he was previously cleared of criminal damage relating to the 'discarding' of the hares and the two birds at the shop. Magistrates previously said they cannot be sure 'beyond reasonable doubt' that the individual in the CCTV footage is Kempster. Two other men captured on CCTV have not been charged.   Roofer James Kempster, 39, was given a fine and a six-month community order on Tuesday after his DNA was found on the wild birds of prey, both of which are protected Southampton Magistrates' Court heard that James Kempster, 39, arrived outside Broughton Community Shop at 3.23am on March 15 last year A quiet Hampshire village was left reeling after a masked man allegedly dumped the carcasses of 50 hares, along with a barn owl and a kestrel, outside a community shop He was sentenced in Southampton Magistrates' Court over two counts of possessing live or dead wild birds under the Wildlife and Countryside Act. Kempster, who lives in a caravan park in Totton, was given a six-month community order with 30 rehabilitation activity requirement days. He was also fined £120, ordered to pay court costs of £650 and a surcharge of £114. Kempster said he could pay the money straight away. The father-of-three will be electronically tagged for six months. Kempster, who suffers from bipolar disorder, previously told the court he had nothing to do with the attack and did not 'know how my DNA got there'. In April, when he was cleared of dumping the animal bodies, he looked at reporters and exclaimed 'tweet, tweet, tweet' as he walked out of court. Kempster's defence barrister, Juliet Osborne, previously told the court that he 'sits in court an innocent man and he remains one'. At sentencing on Tuesday, she warned magistrates not to let the findings at the Broughton shop alter their judgement.  The court heard Kempster (pictured) was identified through DNA evidence, phone tracking data and clothing matching that seen on CCTV Prosecutors say the shocking incident lasted just three minutes and involved two other men, who were seen on CCTV but have not been charged 'In respect of mitigation obviously Mr Kempster does not accept that he is guilty of the offence,' she said.  'Gypsies and travellers are the only group whose educational levels have deteriorated in recent years. 'There are four groups of people who consistently fall behind and first on the list is gypsies and travellers. 'Mr Kempster has caring responsibilities for his children and has struggles with mental health and a subsequent bipolar disorder diagnosis.' Prosecutor Adam Cooper told the court Kempster had failed to offer any explanation as to why his DNA was on the birds.  Mr Cooper said Kempster had previous convictions for dishonesty offences and wildlife offences - which mainly related to trespassing in search of game. In 2019 he had a conviction which related to hares.  Chair of the Magistrates Bench, Gary Chant, said Kempster had shown little remorse and continued to deny his involvement in the incident.  'You have previous convictions and continue to deny this offence. There is minimal if any mitigation. We are going to go along mostly with probation,' he said.  'You will be fitted with a tag and you must not remove or interfere with the device. He said Kempster risked jail time if he did not pay the £800 fine by July 22. The roofer previously said he only heard of the incident when he saw it on the news, and even if he did know someone involved he 'wasn't a grass'. James Kempster was accused of turning a village shop into a 'horror movie scene' by smearing blood on its windows and hurling 50 hare carcasses outside its forecourt Kempster said the only way his DNA could have been found on the birds was through 'transferable DNA'. Prosecutors said Kempster, who was not wearing gloves, was identified due to matching DNA, phone tracking and matching clothing. The silver Suzuki Vitara allegedly used by the group was later found burned out around three-and-a-half miles from the shop.  The seller of the car, bought months before the incident, had taken a phone number belonging to Kempster's sister-in-law, Bridie Smith. Kempster, who works as a roofer, was arrested on March 28, 2024, and taken to the police station to be interviewed. Villagers were left to deal with the grim aftermath later that morning, with one farmer filling a bag with so many hares it became too heavy to lift. Shop volunteer William Hacking described noticing something 'abnormal' when he arrived just before 8am. 'I drove to the shop because it was early and drove up the little driveway and saw something out of the window which was a bit abnormal which turned out to be a lot of animals which had been killed or dumped outside the shop,' he said.  'There was a lady standing there and I told her I was going to go home and get a shovel to clear it up. My concern was to clear up the hares. 'I picked the birds up so I could get into the shop and I put them on the floor. They were not impaled but they were stuck.' Local farmer Dagan James told how he helped to remove the carcasses. He said: 'At around 8:30am I was working on the farm and Simon Jones (a colleague) received a phone call about asking for help in retrieving animals at Broughton Village Shop. 'I arrived at around 9am and could see a number of distressed looking locals outside. 'Outside the shop there was a whole load of dead hares. They had been placed under a tarpaulin sheet before I arrived. 'Simon and I began putting them in a bag but the bag got so heavy that we could not lift it up. 'Some of them were in rigor mortis and some were freshly killed. The hares were later placed on a compost heap.' No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.