A DRUNK man who stole a pet chicken from a primary school as a "prank" has been ordered to pay £130 compensation because of the distress he caused the children.
Anthony Campen was caught after he posted a bleary-eyed photograph on Facebook of him and a friend clutching the bird.
The 29-year-old pleaded guilty at Chelmsford Magistrates Court on Wednesday to stealing the chicken some time between January 26 and 28 from The Bishops' C of E & RC Primary School in Beardsley Drive, Chelmsford.
Campen, of Vermeer Ride, Chelmsford, took the chicken home, stuffed it in a rucksack to take to a house party, posed for photographs with it and fed it human food, before releasing it into a field.
He was also ordered to pay £85 in court costs and a £20 victim surcharge, but a charge of causing the chicken, which has never been found, unnecessary suffering was dropped.
After the court case Campen tweeted: "£235 for a chicken. Right, I'm off for a KFC!"
The court was told the brown chicken was stolen from the primary school where seven and eight-year-old children were looking after it for a class project about caring for animals.
The children were deeply distressed by the disappearance of the chicken, which they named Olympia because it was hatched on the first day of London 2012.
Head teacher Greg Waters told the Chronicle: "In my ten years of being a head I've never seen an issue generate so much anger.
"The children just loved that chicken and they feel violated."
A school newsletter on February 1 read: "We are very sad this week as one of our chickens has gone missing.
"If you see Olympia, please bring her back to us. She is quite tame and the children are missing her."
The school also asked parents to give money to build a more secure pen for their chickens.
A cake sale raised £100 and the children also wrote angry letters addressed to Campen.
Chairman of the magistrates, Walter Hall, told him: "Although at the time it may have been amusing to you, we've got to take into account the fact the chicken disappeared forever and the distress to the children."
Outside court Campen said: "It was a drunken prank."
He claimed he found the chicken wandering in the road and took it to a friend's house, but that later it got away and was never seen again.
He was caught after he posted a picture of the chicken in his grasp on Facebook, alongside a smiling friend.
"Why do you have a chicken?" one friend asked on the social networking site.
"We found it running down the road. Haha x," replied Campen.
Prosecutor Sharon Hall told the court that the theft had deeply distressed the children who had been caring for it.
"The children couldn't understand why someone had taken it," she said.
"It was a school project about caring for animals, looking after them and the 'needs of others' and after it was discovered missing from the coop they searched the local area."
An RSPCA spokesperson said: "Caring properly for animals is a serious issue, and failing to do so because of drunken behaviour is no excuse."
An Essex Police spokesperson added: "We are pleased that Campen has admitted this offence and that he has been ordered to pay compensation. This chicken had originally belonged to a primary school in Chelmsford and the loss of the bird caused great distress to the children.
"The chicken has never been found and it is highly unlikely it would have survived in the wild.
"Campen's actions were totally unacceptable and we hope he thinks long and hard about the upset and distress his loutish behaviour has caused."
Emma Davenport, mitigating, said Campen was "ashamed".
But on the morning of the court case, Campen tweeted: "I'm in court for theft of a protected animal – a live chicken. Can you believe that? Protected? Have you been down Tesco lately?"
The school now has a replacement for Olympia, called Cleopatra Willow Bishop, which is keeping their other chicken Pandora company.
