In a startling episode, a senior executive from HSBC, known for his high-flying career, took drastic measures against a CCTV camera, using both a shotgun and an axe to disable it.

James Gavin, aged 50, targeted the surveillance equipment located on a parcel of land across from his residence in Selling, near Faversham. The incident unraveled when Gavin, concerned about the potential fire hazard from wooden pallets stored nearby, decided to take matters into his own hands.

Upon being confronted by law enforcement, Gavin readily admitted to his actions, describing them as an “absolutely bloody ridiculous thing” to have done. His worries about the fire risk to his timber-constructed home seemed to have driven him to this extreme act.

The entire sequence of events was captured by a concealed wildlife camera, leading to his arrest. In a courtroom appearance last week, Gavin faced the possibility of imprisonment. However, the potential impact on his family’s well-being and his high-paying job, which nets him £10,000 monthly, played a significant role in the court’s decision to spare him time behind bars.

During proceedings at Canterbury Crown Court, it was revealed that Gavin, who holds a license for firearms, initially shot at the camera, which had been installed the previous July.

Canterbury Crown Court heard Gavin, a licensed firearms holder, first shot a camera installed in July last year.

Then, less than a week later, the replacement recording equipment also became a target for him.

Not content with just shooting that camera on that occasion, Gavin also armed himself with a drill and an axe to pull it down, Canterbury Crown Court heard.

But, unbeknown to Gavin, his actions were caught on the hidden camera – installed by a tenant using the field for her horses – with the footage also showing him throwing the equipment into a bush and running off.

The court heard that not only had there been three blazes at the site that required the fire service’s attendance, but the council had also taken action.

But Gavin, who has an asset management job with HSBC, freely admitted to police: ‘Absolutely bloody ridiculous thing for me to have done. I don’t deny that whatsoever.’

He subsequently pleaded guilty to two offences of damaging property – the cameras and the wooden poles on which they were erected – and two offences of possessing a shotgun at the time of committing criminal damage.

James Gavin, 50, also used a shotgun to blast the recording equipment installed on land opposite his property in Selling, near Faversham

Gavin (pictured) was spared prison when he appeared in court last week – after a judge was told that being jailed could cost the father-of-three his £10,000-a-month job

At his sentencing hearing on Friday, March 6, prosecutor Simon Smith told the court Gavin had been involved in an ongoing dispute with landowner Brian Macey over the transporting and storing of the pallets on the site in Grove Road.

The lawyer added that Isabelle O’Shea also rented the land for her horses and a decision was made between her and Mr Macey that a CCTV camera should be set up following what were described as ‘minor damage issues’.

However, once in place near the entrance, Gavin shot at it with his legally-owned weapon on July 23 before throwing the destroyed equipment and part of the frame it was on into a neighbouring ditch.

The court heard Ms O’Shea was alerted by another resident who lived close to the field that ‘several gunshots’ had been heard, said Mr Smith.

Concerned for her horses, she went to the site and discovered all that remained of the camera were small pieces of broken housing.

Police were informed and, on July 27, Ms O’Shea set up a second camera in the same position, as well as a wildlife camera covering the area.

But, two days later, Gavin took aim again, the court heard.

‘At three in the afternoon, the defendant took his shotgun and shot the new CCTV camera,’ explained the prosecutor.

‘The hidden camera picked up the sound of the shot and a piece of housing flying off.

‘Half-an-hour later, the defendant can be seen on the land with a drill, attempting to remove the camera.

‘He then leaves, and returns five minutes later with an axe and attempts to chop the wooden post down and pull it down before once again discarding it in a bush.’

Gavin was arrested that night, with his collection of shotguns and airguns seized along with his firearms certificate.

When interviewed, he told officers, ‘Yes, I put my hands up. I damaged the camera’, and when asked how, he replied, ‘With a shotgun’ before explaining he had fired through a bush at the side of the property.

‘When asked why, he explained he was fed up with the situation of the pallets being stored on the land,’ Mr Smith told the court.

‘He said, ‘They are creeping closer and closer’ to his house and because his house is a wooden structure, he was concerned if there was a fire there.

‘He said he caused the damage because he thought it would be the way for the individual who has her horses at the land to say she didn’t want to be there anymore.

‘He said he had nothing against Ms O’Shea and it was purely because of the dispute between him and the landowner that he had acted as he had.’

Gavin, who had held a firearms certificate for about 13 to 15 years at the time, was said to appear ‘remorseful and disappointed’ in his interview.

In a victim impact statement read to the court, Ms O’Shea described being ‘in constant fear’ while at the field and ‘petrified’ the situation could escalate.

She had even resorted to sending ’emergency texts’ in which she would instruct her family and friends to contact police if they did not hear from her at set times.

In his statement, Mr Macey said he had been left ‘feeling on edge’.

The court also heard from family and friends of the defendant who spoke of his exemplary character, honesty and integrity.

One described his behaviour last summer as ‘an aberration in an otherwise decent life lived’.

Gavin’s struggles with his mental health were also highlighted, with the court being told he had been diagnosed with a depressive disorder characterised by paranoia, poor sleep, hypervigilance and ‘vivid nightmares’ of his home and family in a fire.

But his lawyer, Leon Kazakos KC, said that his client accepted there were no excuses for his behaviour, which resulted from ‘a combination of frustration and a significant lack of judgement’.

He told the court that although Gavin’s differences with Mr Macey had been ‘explored through proper channels first’, with a complaint made to the local authority and enforcement notices served, the situation did not improve.

Mr Kazakos also said that as someone who held a firearms licence – now surrendered – for many years and shot for sport, Gavin could no longer ‘bear to be around guns’.

Urging the court not to send him to prison, the lawyer explained that custody would lead to Gavin losing his £10,000-a-month job and impact his family both financially and emotionally.

Describing the criminality as ‘unsophisticated, short-lived and with no intention to cause injury’, Mr Kazakos added: ‘The court can properly conclude he will never commit a like offence, he will never commit another offence.’

Passing sentence, Judge Sarah Counsell said that while much had been said about the defendant, the impact on Mr Macey and the ‘terrifying’ experience for Ms O’Shea in particular had to be acknowledged.

But, indicating that she could mark the seriousness of the offences with a 12-month jail term suspended for 12 months and a £2,000 fine, she said she had taken into account his mental disorder, remorse, early admissions of guilt, the impact of custody on others and a realistic prospect of rehabilitation.

‘Your reaction in July last year with those cameras going up has to be seen as something out of character and is unlikely to be repeated should you continue to seek the support you have had from the medical professionals,’ she told him.

Gavin, who began to cry in the dock when he realised he would not go to prison, was also ordered to complete up to five rehabilitation activity requirements and 180 hours of unpaid work.

As well as the fine, he was told to pay £180 to Mr Macey for the cost of the damaged CCTV cameras and poles, and £1,000 in prosecution costs, all within three months.

But although Judge Counsell said a restraining order was not necessary, she warned Gavin that his wife ‘may be the better person to make approaches’ to Mr Macey and Ms O’Shea if the need arose in future.