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 in what prosecutors described as a 'horror movie scene'.
Court Hearing Details
Southampton Magistrates' Court heard that James Kempster, 39, arrived outside Broughton Community Shop at 3.23am on March 15 last year, wearing a balaclava and tracksuit, before 'discarding' dozens of dead animals across the forecourt. The court was told he then began 'ripping' some of the hares in half, leaving 'blood dripping on the floor', while also smearing blood across the shop windows. The bodies of a barn owl and a kestrel were allegedly stuck onto the shop's door handles.
Prosecution's Account
Prosecutors say the shocking incident lasted just three minutes and involved two other men, who were seen on CCTV but have not been charged. Kempster, of Totton, denies the charges but is on trial accused of two counts of possessing a live or dead wild bird under the Wildlife and Countryside Act, as well as one count of criminal damage.
Opening the case, prosecutor Adam Cooper told the court: 'This case is about a horror movie scene outside Broughton Community Shop on March 15, 2024. It is a small Hampshire shop and there is a forecourt. In the early hours at 3:23am three men arrive outside the shop by car. The driver remains in the car and manoeuvres it so the boot is adjacent to the forecourt and two men get out dressed in tracksuits and balaclavas covering their faces. They get out and proceed to discard the bodies of approximately 50 dead hares at the front of the forecourt of the shop and are strewn about deliberately to maximise their coverage. One of the two men is James Kempster. The individual then rips the body of one of the hares in half. Blood is dripping on the floor and blood is wiped on the front of the shop. There were two dead birds on the front door. One was a barn owl and one was a kestrel. These were wiped on the door and there were hares stuffed onto the door handles of the shop. He then beckoned the car to drive forwards and showed his handiwork. He then leaves. The whole incident was about three minutes. To find him guilty we do not need to know why and it may be that we do not get to understand why.'
Evidence and Aftermath
The court heard Kempster was identified through DNA evidence, phone tracking data and clothing matching that seen on CCTV. He was not wearing gloves during the incident. The silver Suzuki Vitara allegedly used by the group was later discovered burned out around three-and-a-half miles from the shop.
Villagers were left to deal with the grim aftermath later that morning. William Hacking, a volunteer at the shop, described the moment he arrived shortly before 8am. He said: 'We have a community shop totally run by volunteers except for a paid manager. 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. 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 and a colleague were called in to help 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 hole 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.'
The two-day trial is ongoing.
