Bloodsports
At West Somerset magistrates on 12/5/00 Anthony Richard Wright, a huntsman of Exmoor Foxhounds pleaded guilty to an offence under the Specified Risk Material Order 1997 of feeding to hounds parts of a bovine carcase which contained SRM. Wright, who has been cautioned for a similar offence in September 1997, was fined £500 and ordered to pay £567 costs.
On 11/11/00 at Kidderminster magistrates Messrs James (a huntsman) and Mallard (a joint master of hounds) each pleaded guilty to two charges brought by Hereford and Worcester County Council of inadequate separation and staining of SBM contrary to the SBM Order. Mr James was fined £500 on each charge and ordered to pay £2,000 costs (total £3000). Mallard was fined £1,000 on each charge with £5,000 costs (total £7000).
Three men who were employed by one of Prince Charles’ favourite hunts appeared at Leicester Crown Court on charges relating to violent attacks on hunt saboteurs.Dean John Ironmonger (39) from Wysall, Notts; Kenneth Scott Rumph (22) from Willoughby-on-the-Wolds, Leics and Paul John Tomlinson (40) from Clifton, Nottingham faced on a range of charges relating to an incident which occurred at a meet of the Quorn Foxhounds on the 4/3/00. All three were employed as hunt stewards on the day. Sadly on 23/1/01 all three were cleared of attacking hunt sabs after a judge ruled court regulations had been broken. The case collapsed following legal arguments over abuse of process relating to the disclosure of photographs and video footage taken at the hunt. Tomlinson had denied assault occasioning actual bodily harm in relation to one saboteur. Ironmonger and Rumph had denied affray. Rumph was also charged with dangerous driving. (The picture left show Rumph front and Ironmonger).
Keith Lynch (44) of Dumbreeze Lodge, Knowsley Park, Merseyside was banned from driving for 18 months after pleading guilty to driving with excess alcohol. Lynch is a gamekeeper on a shooting estate in Knowsley owned by Lord Derby. On 31/1/01 as well as the ban South Sefton magistrates fined him £300 and ordered to pay costs of £50. He know faces the prospect of legal proceeding to revoke his firearms licence.
Huntsman Jonathan Broise (45) of Petworth, West Sussex, has been barred from becoming master of the Chiddingfold, Leconfield and Cowdray Hunt after being convicted of butting a disabled magistrate and punching another man at a point-to-point meeting. Horsham magistrates were told on 18/2/01 that Broise attacked Michael Halford, a company manager, in a hospitality tent and turned on Philip Everest, who walks with crutches, when the magistrate tried to intervene.
On 19/2/01 South Lakeland magistrates fined Calvin O’Hara of Hartwood Road, Southport a total of £220 with £75 costs after he illegally introduced live fish to Windermere which could have harmed the lake’s resident fish population. O’Hara also pleaded guilty to fishing with more rods than he was permitted to, and to taking undersized fish from the Leeds-Liverpool Canal, which were later used as bait in South Lakeland Magistrates’ Court heard how Mr O’Hara introduced live fish to Windermere without the prior consent. The fish could have been carriers of disease and were also a potential threat to the ecological balance of the Lake.
Four men were convicted at Nottingham magistrates on 29/1/01 of staging and taking part in illegal dog fights following an undercover operation involving the RSPCA. Kenneth Langan (32) from Portslade in Sussex, Anthony Mullen (43) from Northfield, Birmingham, Jeremy Brown (46) from Chesterfield in Derbyshire and Ryan Nuttall (29) from Mansfield near Nottingham pleaded guilty to various charges including causing dogs to fight, using premises for dog fighting and causing dogs to suffer. On 26/2/01 at Mansfield magistrates Langan, who admitted four charges of causing unnecessary suffering and failing to provide veterinary care was jailed for four months. Mullen, who admitted three charges including causing dogs to fight, was given three months in jail. Brown, who pleaded guilty to just one charge of providing premises to be used for dog-fighting, was jailed for four months. Nuttall, who admitted nine similar offences was also sentenced to four months in prison. Two other men were fined last October at Mansfield magistrates for attending illegal dogfights arranged by the group.
A workman has been jailed for three months after shooting a cat with an air rifle. Shooting enthusiast Mark William Gray(25) from Peverell, Plymouth took aim as the cat sat on the front step of his home. At Plymouth magistrates on 7/3/01 Gray pleaded guilty to causing criminal damage to a cat and also carrying a firearm in a public place.
A gamekeeper admitted a firearms offence near the scene of the Dunblane primary school massacre. Police found 20 live bullets lying unguarded in William Kirk’s cottage in the town, Stirling Sheriff Court were told on 16/3/01. The prosecution said Kirk did not have a firearms certificate to cover the ammunition. His defence said Kirk had formerly possessed a .270 rifle, but had surrendered his certificate upon selling the weapon. Mistakenly, he held on to the ammunition. He said Kirk had already paid dearly for his error by losing his job and tied cottage. Sheriff Wylie Robertson fined him £250, saying he took into account Kirk’s reduced circumstances and the fact that the prosecution had accepted his not guilty pleas to three further charges.
On 26/3/01 the huntsman of the New Forest Foxhounds was sent to prison for 8 weeks after being found guilty of assault following a trial at Lyndhurst magistrates. The case related to attack on a passing motorist in which Paul Woodhouse, huntsman with the New Forest Foxhounds since 1998, punched a motorist in the face during an incident at the hunt kennels. Giving evidence in court the Master of the New Forest Foxhounds stated that a custodial sentence may lead to the closure of the hunt, as the hounds only responded to Woodhouse, and that as exercising the hounds was now curtailed due to the Foot & Mouth outbreak no-one else could deal with them. Woodhouse has another conviction for common assault.
A Birmingham man who turned a house he owned into an illegal cock-fighting den was jailed for three months on 5/4/01. Cockerels involved in the fights suffered “appalling cruelty” and when the premises in Small Heath was raided by RSPCA inspectors and police officers they found a room used as a “cock pit” spattered waist high in blood, Birmingham magistrates were told. A beak
belonging to one of the birds was discovered on the windowsill of the room and other paraphernalia used in cock fighting was also recovered. Javid Iqbal (46) of St Benedict’s Road, Small Heath, Birmingham who admitted one charge of allowing part of a premises to be used for cock fighting, was also disqualified from keeping any animals for ten years. Eight fighting cocks were found in pens in the garden belonging to the two properties. A large amount of videos, some showing cock fighting, were among the items seized.
Eggs/Birds
Hundreds of wild finches destined for Malta were seized in Kent during a raid by RSPCA inspectors on a disused pet shop in October 1998. The birds were fitted with false leg-rings and were due to be flown out of the country from Gatwick airport in a deal worth thousands of pounds. Bird dealer Roger Attard (26) planned to make £60 a bird selling them in Malta but the RSPCA released them back to the wild at a secret location in Surrey. Attard returned to Malta before be could face charges and now runs a gun shop.
A number of wild birds were found in a child’s bedroom during a searcha house in Tipton by RSPCA inspectors. One of the birds, a wild goldfinch, had injured its beak and wings by flying at the bars of its cage. Bird breeder Alan Newell (34) from Tipton1 West Midlands also had several decoy cages and bird trapping equipment hidden in a holdall. In May 2000 Newell pleaded guilty to five offences and was fined £250 and ordered to pay £450 costs.
Fifty-eight birds were removed from a house in West Bromwich during an RSPCA raid. Bird breeder Trevor Launchburyhad been keeping goldfinches, bullfinches and reed buntings in a shed in his garden where he falsified leg-rings to make them look as if they were legally bred in captivity. Two of the birds were suffering from damage to their legs and bodies consistent with flying at the bars of their cage or from capture. In August 2000 Launchbury pleaded guilty to 18 charges including to two counts of causing unnecessary suffering and possession of wild birds. He was banned from owning birds for life, ordered to pay £300 and given a two-year conditional discharge.
A hawfinch discovered during a raid at an aviary in Kent had gone blind and was so severely emaciated it was only given days to live. A total of 14 finches were seized from cages at Bernard Nicholas‘ farmhouse in Sittingbourne, Kent during a search by RSPCA inspectors. They also found numerous traps and cages used for capturing and storing wild birds. Bird dealer Nicholas was convicted by Sittingbourne magistrates in December 2000 of cruelty to two birds and of possessing two wild birds He was fined £1000.
On 29/1/01 a West Midlands man was sentenced for cruelly terrifying six birds in a violent outburst during a joint investigation by the RSPCA and West Midlands police. David Stone (41) from Walsall pleaded guilty before magistrates at Aldridge to three charges and was sentenced to 60 days community service, disqualified from owning birds for six months and ordered to pay £350 in costs. During the operation in November 1999 Stone smashed up his aviary and police were forced to remove and arrest him. He was later convicted of affray.
On 22/1/01 a landmark case against a man accused of selling endangered birds’ eggs appeared before Durham Crown Court. Michael Davidson of Lanton Terrace, New Herrington, Sunderland, faces charges of selling 155 eggs, largely of birds of prey, including golden eagles. A trial is due to begin at Durham Crown Court in May.
Equine
On 26/1/01 Denise Richmond was banned from keeping animals for 20 years after her horse was left starving in a field. Richmond admitted causing unnecessary suffering by neglect to a mare called Kaiser which was found in a field by RSPCA officers. Officers discovered the starving horse was so badly neglected that her ribs were sticking out of her stomach. Denise Richmond (25) of Marine Cottages, Newbiggin-by-the-Sea, Northumberland was fined £250 by magistrates at south east Northumberland.
Assorted
At Staines magistrates on 20/1/00, Mr Harrison, a former director of Heine Foods Ltd, was found guilty of the illegal export of British beef to Belgium in 1996 and 1997. The extent of this illegal trade in beef led to investigations in other member states and adverse press comment. It prompted a Commission inspection in the UK in 1997 and lay behind a significant tightening-up of UK legislation and controls after that time. Sentence was delayed pending the outcome of a medical report on his fitness to withstand imprisonment. At Kingston Crown court on 26//00 Mr Harrison was sentenced to nine months’ imprisonment, suspended for two years. There was no order as to costs as he was able to show that he had little or no assets.
At Andover magistrates on 22/5/00 Andrew Nigel Hayward, a butcher/game dealer who trades at Little London, Hampshire pleaded guilty to two offences under the Specified Risk Material Regulations 1997 and one offence under the Animal By-Products Order 1999. The offences related to his failure to stain and correctly store SRM – namely sheep heads. He had also failed to record consignments of animal by-products. Mr Hayward was fined a total of £330 and ordered to pay £542 costs. The fines reflected his early guilty plea.
On 24/1/01 Qantas has pleaded guilty to four charges of animal cruelty after the deaths of 68 deer the airline was flying to Thailand. The airline was charged after the deaths of 68 deer out of a shipment of 114 of the animals being sent to Bangkok for breeding. Animal welfare officials said the deer were unable to stand in the crates they were being transported in. Qantas made the plea without accepting liability on the part of the airline, said Peter Frampton, a senior airline official. The airline was not responsible for loading the animals into the crates.
The discovery of chicken remains in two local streams cost a Deeside company more than £19,000. On 15/2/00 Mold magistrates fined the Marshall Food Group Ltd from Glendale Avenue, Sandycroft, Flintshire £18,000 and ordered it to pay £1,279 costs after the company pleaded guilty to two pollution offences. The company processes chickens. They admitted allowing polluting matter, including chicken remains, into the Railway Drain and Sandycroft Drain. The magistrates imposed fines of £8,000 in respect of the first offence and £10,000 for the second. The court was told that the Agency had received complaints from members of the public about chicken remains in the drains.
A South Devon wildlife park gunman with the job of shooting escaped dangerous animals, twice tried to shoot a horse from just nine feet – and missed both times Totnes magistrates heard on 21/2/01. Derick Hext (49) of New Park Road, Lee Mill, who worked for the Dartmoor Wildlife Park at Sparkwell, was trying to put down the old horse using a .375 rifle while the animal was tied to a tree stump in a South Devon field. Each time Hext fired and missed the terrified horse broke free and ran around the field. Eventually Hext gave up and the horse had to be put down by the local hunt using a humane killer. Hext should never have been using the rifle in the first place because his firearms certificate included a condition that it should only be used in an emergency linked to captive animals at the wildlife park. Hext was fined £150 and ordered to pay £50 costs after he admitted failing to comply with the firearms certificate condition.
On 21/2/01 three Brixham fishermen were ordered to pay nearly £24,000 after obstructing a fisheries officer and landing illegal fish. Stephen Trust of Elkins Hill, landed nearly £11,500 of illegal Dover Sole at Brixham, fish which he had dredged up while fishing for scallops. When a fisheries officer tried to inspect the catch he was grabbed by his jacket and ordered off the boat. Appearing before Torbay magistrates were Trust, who is master and co-owner of the fishing boat Jacomina, pleaded guilty to obstructing the officer. He also pleaded guilty to failing to keep an accurate logbook and two charges of failing to comply with his licence by not leaving a copy of his logsheet with MAFF and landing illegal fish. Also appearing with Trust was Todd Crombie of Golden Close, Brixham, a deck hand on board Jacomina and Trust’s father Thomas John Trust of Barnfield Road, Brixham, also co-owner of the Jacomina. Crombie pleaded guilty to obstruction. And Thomas Trust pleaded guilty to failing to keep an accurate logbook and failing to comply with conditions of the licence. Magistrates were told Stephen Trust had two previous convictions for similar offences and two cautions for assaults. They fined him £400 for obstructing the officer, £2,500 for failing to keep a log book, and £2,500 for failing to comply with his licence. He was also told he must pay the value of the excess fish, more than £11,000, compensation of £100 and £2,000 costs. Thomas Trust was fined £1,000 for failing to keep a log book, and a further £1,000 for failing to comply with his licence. He was also told to pay £2,000 costs. Crombie was fined £200 with £50 costs.
A Cornwall abattoir was ordered to pay £3,255 in fines and costs after polluting a tributary of the River Inny near Launceston with red diesel. The pollution was traced to Jaspers Abattoir at Treburley, where it was confirmed that an unknown quantity of red diesel had been lost down a drain. Employees at the firm had not tried to trace the lost diesel assuming it had gone to the foul sewer. On 21/2/01 Bodmin magistrates fined Jaspers (Treburley) Ltd of Jaspers Abbatoir, Treburley, Launceston £3,000 for causing the red diesel to be discharged into controlled waters. The firm, which pleaded guilty to the offence, was also ordered to pay £255 costs.
Sherborne magistrates ordered a Dorset farmer to pay £1,300 in fines and costs after a pollution that killed virtually all the fish in a 6 kilometre (4 mile) stretch of a south west river. Dead fish were seen on a the river near Bradford Abbas. These included trout, bullheads, roach, dace, chub and gudgeon. The source of the problem was traced to a local farm where a slurry store had released some of its contents into the river. Slurry is high in ammonia, which is extremely damaging if it finds its way into a river or stream. It is toxic to fish and strips the oxygen from the water. It was estimated that up to 7,000 fish died from its effects. On 21/2/01 Sherborne magistrates heard Michael Tizzard of North Wootton Farm, Sherborne plead guilty to causing polluting matter to enter controlled waters and he was fined £1,000 and ordered to pay £300 costs.
A haulage company and a specialist pig breeder were fined £500 each for falsifying MAFF documents and breaking animal transport regulations and ordered to pay £1,556 costs. JSR Healthbred Pigs and Chris Waite Hauliers, a specialist animal haulage company, both based in Driffield, East Yorkshire, claimed that pigs being transported from Wiltshire to Hamburg, Germany, had been rested for 24 hours in Holland, as required by law, Leeds magistrates were told on 8/3/01. The livestock company and haulier supplied false journey plans and declarations to MAFF, claiming the animals had been properly rested. But the RSPCA’s special operations unit, which was trailing the consignment as part of an investigation into live animal transport, found that the journey in Europe failed to include the 24 hours rest. JSR admitted failing to comply with a journey plan and providing false information. The haulage company admitted providing false information.
A mid Devon farmer was ordered to pay £2,000 in fines and costs for the pollution that sparked a major operation to protect salmon and drinking water supplies on the River Exe. An estimated 10,000 gallons of slurry had entered the Dart River, a tributary of the Exe. The source of the pollution was traced to a local farm where a failure in a slurry store had led to its contents being released down a steep field and directly into a stream that led to the Dart River. On 9/3/01 at Axminster magistrates Andrew Francis Chave (27) of Northcote Farm, Cruwys Morchard, Tiverton plead guilty to causing polluting matter to enter controlled waters and he was fined £1,500 and ordered to pay £500 costs.
A Dutch airline has been fined for not looking after 440 Siberian squirrels it put through a chopping machine. The animals were being imported from China via Greece but were stopped at Schipol airport when customs discovered vital documents were missing. They couldn’t be returned to Greece because the papers weren’t available, and China didn’t want them either. The Dutch Ministry of Agriculture ordered the squirrels be killed. KLM was taken to court in Haarlem on 21/3/01. Although the court accepted the squirrels had to be killed, it fined the airline 35,000 guilders, around £10,000, for not taking proper care of the animals or transporting them in the right way.
Farmers and businessmen suspected of selling potentially dangerous meat were arrested on 23/3/01 in a nationwide operation led by Derbyshire police. Denby Poultry Products in Bushes Farm, Derby Road, Denby, was raided this morning by officers investigating allegations that infected meat had entered the food chain across the country. Police were acting on suspicion that meat which had been classified as unfit for human consumption was coming back into the market and being sold as food. A meat warehouse in Bury was also raided by police. Brian Davies and his son also called Brianwho run B Davies & Son also known as The Travelling Pig, on Bright Street in Bury were taken to Bury police station and bailed for three months while inquiries take place. Police made 16 arrests during the day as they investigated allegations that poultry destined for pet food was being prepared to be sent back to shops for human consumption. The seizures follow on the heels of a meat recycling racket in Rotherham, South Yorkshire when five men were sentenced after 1,300 tonnes of unfit chicken and turkey were diverted to shops.
A female lawyer has been charged with murder after her dog mauled her next-door neighbour to death. Marjorie Knoller(45) and her husband Robert Noel (59) have been charged with involuntary manslaughter and keeping a mischievous dog that killed a human being. The animals have been linked to a dog-fighting ring run out of Pelican Bay State Prison by inmates Paul Schneider and Dale Bretches. Knoller and Noel were caring for two Presa Canario-mastiffs when the dogs attacked their neighbour. Schneider and Bretches are serving life sentences without parole: Schneider for robbery and attempted murder, and Bretches for murder and assault with a deadly weapon while behind bars. Both belong to the Aryan Brotherhood, a white supremacist prison gang.
A man has been fined £130 after being convicted of shooting a protected wild bird with an air rifle. Kevin Morris (35) of Lonsdales Close, Belle Isle denied intentionally killing a Great Crested Grebe on Barton Broad near Norwich and using an air weapon in a navigation area. On 29/3/01 Norwich magistrates heard that Morris, who was found guilty in his absence after pleading not guilty by letter, was spotted firing from a cruiser on the Norfolk Broads. When questioned, Morris told a Broads Authority river inspector that he had been firing at a paper bag. Morris was also ordered to pay £120 costs.
On 30/3/01 A Florida DJ was charged with animal cruelty after a wild boar was castrated and killed in a radio station car park while he was on air. WXTB FM in Tampa received hundreds of complaints after the slaughter, which took place as part of a “roadkill” barbecue promotion. Presenter Todd Bubba the Love Sponge Clem and three others are accused of cruelty and face up to five years in prison. Also charged are producer Brent Hartley, audience volunteer Daniel Brooks, who allegedly held down the boar, and Paul Kauterburg – the hunter accused of taking the animal to the car park. The radio station broadcast squeals of a pig while the slaughter took place. Station bosses say they were pre-recorded animal noises and not the actual event.
Farm Animals (Guardians Of The Land – My Arse!!!)
At Swaffham magistrates Court on 2/5/00 John Christopher Savory, a farmer from Gateley, near Dereham in Norfolk was convicted of offences under the Cattle Identification Regulations 1998 and the Trades Descriptions Act 1968. Savory had failed to return a Cattle Passport within 7 days of the animal’s death and applied a false trade description. He was fined £4,000 and ordered to pay £2.000 costs.
At Hastings magistrates on 5/5/00 Kevin John Mayhew, a farmer from Peasmarsh, East Sussex pleaded guilty to the following offences under the Cattle Identification Regulations – 8 counts of failing to apply ear tags, 8 counts of failing to apply for passports, 8 counts of failing to maintain record of birth, death or movement and 1 count of obstructon. Mayhew was given a conditional discharge for one year and ordered to pay £100 towards the £450 costs claimed.
A veterinary surgeon, called to a paddock near Shepton Mallet’s Charlton Inn, found a sick lamb with the skin and wool around a wound covered with maggots, urine and faeces, at Wells Town Hall Mendip magistrates were told on 25/1/01. Martin Swift (26) of Commercial Road, Shepton Mallet, admitted a charge of causing unnecessary suffering to an animal and the magistrates fined him £400 and ordered him to pay costs of £307.
On 7/2/01 Liam Morgan (43) from Bandon, County Cork, pleaded guilty at Cork Circuit Criminal Court to a charge related to the smuggling of a load of cattle from Northern Ireland. Morgan was described in court as an expert in changing cattle identification tags.
A farmer has been banned from the business for life after inflicting horrific cruelty on his starving animals. Jimmy Douglas(60) of Balmoral Court, Dunblane, but who used to own Upper Drumbane Farm, near Callander, Perthshire allowed injured and lice-infested cattle to rot away in muddy pits. There were so many bones and rotting carcasses scattered around his farm, welfare inspectors branded it an animal Belsen. Douglas failed to improve animal welfare despite three warnings. He flouted anti-BSE regulations, placing the whole Scottish farming industry at risk. At Stirling Sheriff court on 16/3/01 Douglas was banned from farming for life and fined almost £6,000. A neighbour who kept a pony at the farm, told how she ‘kidnapped’ the badly injured horse in the middle of the night. she said: “I was so terrified it would die from an infected leg wound, I kidnapped it and met the vet at the dead of night. He treated it by the light of his car headlamps. “Jimmy just wouldn’t deal with vets. One cow was so sick and desperate to get water it fell and couldn’t get back up. “It was stuck in the same spot for days on end until it died. Rats came and ate parts of the decomposing body while the rest of the herd walked around it.”
A farmer fined for having untreated pigswill on his land had business links with the farm at the heart of the current foot-and-mouth crisis. County Durham farmer Alan Clement (57) of West Craig Lea Farm, Crook, County Durham, and his son Kenneth (28) were fined a total of £600 for breaching regulations governing waste fed to pigs. Bishop Auckland magistrates were told on 26/3/01 the two men collected untreated swill to be processed by Ronnie Waugh, whose farm at Heddon-on-the-Wall, in Northumberland, is at the centre of the foot-and-mouth crisis. Alan Clement was fined £200 for failing to keep feeding records and a further £200 for taking food back to the farm that had not been treated to remove bacteria. Kenneth Clement was fined £200 for taking unprocessed waste on to the pig farm. Both men admitted all of the offences.
A farmer pleaded not guilty at Barnstaple magistrates on 4/3/01 to a string of offences involving animal cruelty. Anthony Revell Butterfield (63) of Old Barnstaple Road, Bideford, denied 10 offences including keeping ewes and lambs with an inadequate daily supply of fresh water, failing to dispose of carcasses appropriately, causing unnecessary suffering, permitting livestock to suffer unnecessary pain and distress and failing to dispose of animal by products. Two charges of failing to apply ear tags to cattle and failing to comply with requirements of cattle identification regulations were withdrawn. Butterfield was granted unconditional bail to appear before magistrates on 27/3/01.
On 2/3/01 Colin Hebson (35) from Cotehill near Carlisle was summonsed to Carlisle magistrates for allegedly being seen moving cattle near his farm. On 5/3/01 at Carlisle magistrates he entered a plea of not guilty through his solicitor. The case was adjourned until 26/3/01.
A farmer thought to be the first in Britain to be convicted for breaking foot-and-mouth livestock movement restrictions has been fined £3,500. Norman Dalgarno (49) of Lords Meadow, Tregony, Truro, admitted moving sheep in direct contravention of a national ban introduced. On 15/3/01 Truro magistrates fined him £3,500 and ordered him to pay £250 in costs. The court heard how on Dalgarno had loaded a number of sheep into a trailer before driving off on a public highway. When interviewed, Dalgarno admitted transporting sheep.
Three farmers have appeared in court charged with contravening foot-and-mouth orders made under the Animal Health Act. On 22/3/01 Hereford magistrates adjourned cases against Brian Adams (52) of Greycott Farm, Croft Lane, Yarpole, Herefordshire, Christopher Rudge (40) of Baysham Farm, Sellack, near Ross-on-Wye and Peter Vaughan (45) of Oakfields Farm, Kingsland, near Leominster, until 19/4/01 at Hereford magistrates. None of the men had entered a plea. Rudge is alleged to have moved 52 ewes and lambs from Baysham Farm to Caradoc, Herefordshire. Adams allegedly moved 92 sheep and Vaughan is said to have transported 100 ewes and 200 lambs from Kingsland to Onibury, Shropshire.
Two farmers have been fined for breaching regulations relating to the movement of sheep during the foot-and-mouth crisis. Donald Jordan of Millom, and John Sutcliffe, of Lowick, both admitting transporting livestock before Barrow-in-Furness magistrates on 29/3/01. Sutcliffe was ordered to pay £1,000 and Jordan was fined £250. Both men were also ordered to pay costs of around £150.
Domestic
A Selby mother has been banned from keeping animals for five years after she admitted causing unnecessary suffering to her two pet rabbits. One of the animals was found dead and infested with maggots, Selby magistrates heard on 10/1/01. They found a dead rabbit with part of its body eaten away by maggots, lying next to a live rabbit, in a fly-ridden hutch at the back of the house. Lisa Barr (27) who now lives in temporary council accommodation, pleaded guilty to causing unnecessary suffering. She also admitted two charges of abandoning an animal. Magistrates banned her from keeping any animals for five years. Barr was also given a one-year conditional discharge, and ordered to pay £218 towards boarding and vet fees and prosecution costs. Magistrates ordered that the surviving rabbit should be kept by the RSPCA until a proper home could be found.
A former racing greyhound was starved to half its body weight in just three months by its new
owner Plymouth magistrates heard on 16/1/01. Almost every bone in the body of the greyhound could be seen protruding through her skin when the RSPCA rescued her from where she had been left in a house. The dog’s owner Samantha Ward (26) who is now known as Miss C Lewis who is now living in a women’s refuge in Kent, pleaded guilty by letter to the court to causing unnecessary suffering to an animal. She was banned from keeping or owning any animal for five years and fined £75. The good news is that the dog now has a loving new home with a member of Greyhound Rescue in the Exeter area.
A father and son were banned from keeping dogs for 10 years on 19/1/01 after one of their pets was cleaned with bleach and found half-dead with a stick wedged between its teeth. The men’s six dogs were found in an “appalling” condition in what the RSPCA described as one of the worst cruelty cases they had seen. Five of the animals had to be destroyed. As well as the ban on keeping dogs, William Mobey (51) and his son, Jack (18) from Guildford, Surrey, were given community service orders. The case was brought after inspectors swooped on a caravan site after a tip-off, Guildford magistrates were told. The dogs were found infested with fleas and so severely neglected that their skin was bleeding. The worst of the six – a four-year-old lurcher – lived in a damp lorry trailer which was swamped with urine and faeces. The animal had been treated with bleach. It was almost completely bald, a piece of twine was tied tightly round its neck and its head was so swollen it seemed out of proportion to the rest of its body. Just touching it was enough to make it bleed. On closer examination, a vet is covered a four-inch piece of wood wedged between its lower teeth.
On 22/1/01 a pet shop owner who runs an animals roadshow in schools kept creatures in “dirty” and “cramped” conditions. Frederick Roberts (58) of Hempshill Hall, Bulwell, has been banned from selling animals at his shop, Fish Specialists in Mansfield Road, Daybrook. Roberts pleaded guilty to keeping a pet shop without a licence. Roberts was also prosecuted in November 2000 for keeping two dangerous wild animals without a licence. Roberts was given an 18-month conditional discharge and ordered to pay £75 costs.
A starving pet dog suffered an agonising death after it tried to eat stones and its own faeces in a
desperate attempt to stay alive. The dog’s owners, Yvonne (44) and Trevor Cole (47) – see right both of Strathmore Crescent, Benwell were banned for life for keeping animals after they were found guilty of causing unnecessary suffering to three dogs by Newcastle magistrates. Mrs Cole who had denied the charges, told the court the dogs belonged to her three children but she was responsible for feeding them. On 24/1/01 magistrates fined the Coles £250 and made an order transferring ownership of the dogs to the RSPCA.
William Joseph Fitzgibbon (39) of Parkinson Road, Walton admitted causing unnecessary suffering to an animal by failing to provide proper care and attention. On 1/2/01 Liverpool magistrates heard how Fitzgibbon owned a bull mastif in an emaciated state. He was given three months probation, banned from keeping any animals for three years and ordered to pay costs of £150.
A woman whose family once owned a pet shop was fined £150 for starving two pet guinea pigs to death. Denise Warner(29) of Coronation Avenue, Keynsham pleaded guilty at Bath magistrates on 7/2/01 to two charges of causing unnecessary suffering to her pet guinea pigs. Warner was fined £75 for each charge, ordered to pay an additional £50 costs and £50 to the RSPCA.
A man who took in a stray cat has been banned from keeping animals for 10 years. George Lewis (48) of Melrose Grove, Jarrow, admitted cruelty to a female cat when he appeared before South Tyneside magistrates on 16/2/01. Lewis was also fined £100 at the hearing. The cat couldn’t eat and it had salivated so much there were sores on its tongue.
A dog’s paws were scraped raw when it was allegedly chained to a truck and dragged along a road. Animal welfare volunteers want to find a new home for the Rottweiler cross. But its Canadian owner wants the animal back. He has been charged with animal cruelty. Motorists called police to report seeing a dog allegedly being dragged by a pickup truck in Vaughan, Ontario. Witnesses claim the dog was unable to keep pace and flipped onto its side numerous times. The Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, which wants the dog rehomed, said the animal’s front paws and front legs had been scraped raw. Ignio Perciballi (68) is charged with cruelty to animals. He is scheduled to appear in Newmarket, Canada court on 19/3/01.
Cruel John Donnelly almost starved his pet dog to death – then told RSPCA investigators: “I treat him like I would my son.” Four-year-old dog was found emaciated, unable to walk and had overgrown nails. He was so thin he had a deep ulcer on his back caused by his bones pushing against the skin. John Donnelly (32) of Cranesville, Beacon Lough, Gateshead, is now banned from keeping animals for life. Donnelly was living in Hyde Park, Gateshead, when he owned the dog. Donnelly admitted causing cruelty to an animal. He was given a one year conditional discharge with £667 costs and banned from keeping animals for life by Gateshead magistrates on 1/3/01.
A Gloucestershire pensioner shot dead one of his neighbours’ cats because he believed it was scaring the birds from his garden. Philip Pratt (76) of Gloucester Street, Winchcombe became convinced the cats were wrecking the wildlife habitat he had created in his back garden. Pratt (seen left) escaped jail but was ordered to pay a total of £1,140 after he admitted causing suffering to an animal at Cheltenham magistrates on 15/3/01. When Pratt spotted one of the cats in a tree he shot her through the eye. The 22-month-old black and white cat died in agony from her injuries a day later. After being shot the cat had managed to find her way home and was taken to a vet with a pellet hole in her head, haemorrhaging, broken claws and breathing problems but died later. When Pratt was arrested a day later, he admitted shooting at the cat to kill it. Police found an air rifle and ammunition at his home. Pratt was fined £1,000 with £110 compensation and £40 costs. Second court case 13/11/01.
A teacher who stamped on and killed a neighbour’s eight-week-old kitten has been jailed for six weeks. Jeremy Hunter(45) however, has walked free because half of his sentence was suspended and he has already served the time while in custody. Hunter denied killing the kitten near his home in Milton Keynes, Bucks, but was found guilty of cruelly ill-treating the animal at a trial last year. Hunter, who offered home tuition in the Eaglestone area of the town, was spotted stamping on the kitten by a passing motorist. When Hunter was due to be sentenced for the offence in June 2000, Hunter failed to appear and a warrant was issued for his arrest. He was eventually picked up at a flat in the seaside town of Margate, Kent and remanded in custody until his sentencing at Milton Keynes magistrates on 16/3/01. He was also given seven days in prison for absconding but the sentence runs concurrently.
A man who starved his pet Japanese dogs to just half their normal weight has been banned from keeping animals for seven years. Mohammed Makki (23) of Romsley Drive, Daubhill, neglected his dogs for two months, Bolton magistrates were told on 23/3/01. The court heard both dogs were found in a makeshift back garden pen with their ribs, spine and leg bones visible. The court heard how both dogs were undernourished and they had been subjected to unnecessary suffering for two months. Makki denied two counts of causing unnecessary suffering to animals after appearing before Bolton magistrates then changed his plea to guilty. Magistrates confiscated both dogs from Makki who was banned from keeping any animal for seven years, fined £100 and ordered to pay £200 costs.
A heroin addict who kicked his girlfriend’s dog to death because it was being disobedient has been jailed for five months. Mark Timmins (26) formerly of Bagley Road, Stourbridge, West Midlands stamped on the dog’s head, smashing its skull, before dumping its body in a river, Wolverhampton Crown Court were told on 29/3/01. Timmins had just been released on licence from a four-year jail term imposed at Exeter Crown Court in January 1997 for causing death by dangerous driving. The judge sentenced Timmins to three months’ jail for animal cruelty and ordered him to serve two months of his previous sentence consecutively. The judge also disqualified him from keeping an animal for five years. Timmins was convicted of killing the seven-year-old dog by Dudley magistrates in his absence and was committed to the higher court for sentence.
On 30/3/01 a New York state prison officer has been charged with throwing five kittens into a rubbish crusher after finding them in a cell. Sergeant Ronald Hunlock denies animal cruelty. Officials said he found the box of kittens in a cell at Sing Sing Correctional Facility in Ossining, New York. Hunlock is alleged to have told an inmate to drop the kittens into a rubbish crusher. He is said to have refused. Department of Correctional Services officials said Hunlock then threw them in and turned the machine on, killing the kittens. The prison officer, who has worked at Sing Sing for five years, has been suspended from his job without pay. Hunlock’s bail has been set at £17,500 and he was sent to a Westchester County jail. The charge carries a maximum penalty of two years in prison. His next court appearance is set for 3/4/01 in Ossining Village Court.
A pensioner who kept animals on a Devon small-holding in conditions said to have been “an insult to humanity” could face jail. The case against Maurice Young (72) has been adjourned for four weeks for a pre-sentence report. Young pleaded guilty on 30/3/01 to 34 charges of cruelty to 62 animals on his small-holding at Shallowford, Hatherleigh. Young who lived in a mobile home on the premises, appeared before magistrates to face the charges relating to goats, calves, bantams, rabbits, ponies, chickens, guinea pigs and dogs. Animals were underweight, in some cases emaciated, and in one area there were 32 skulls of various species of animals including sheep and pigs, and there were also decomposing carcasses of chickens, rabbits and a calf or pony.
On 30/3/01 a man has pleaded guilty to having sex with his family’s dog after police found a video in the man’s Virginia home. David L. Lee (33) pleaded guilty to carnal knowledge of an animal and to possession of cocaine and distributing more than five pounds of marijuana. The tape of Mr Lee and his male beagle, which he apparently made himself, was discovered by police searching for drugs last September. Lee will be sentenced on 6/6/01 and could face a maximum penalty of five years in prison on the animal charge. Officers also found more than 81 ounces of marijuana and 9.55 grams of crack cocaine. A weapons charge against Lee was dropped.
NORTH WEST HUNT SABOTEURS 