Pollock pleaded guilty and received a five month custodial sentence suspended for three years, in respect of the unnecessary suffering charge he was disqualified from owning animals; keeping animals; participating in keeping animals; being party to an arrangement under which that person is entitled to control or influence the way in which animals are being kept; from dealing in animals; from transporting animals; arranging the transport of animals for eight years and fined £2,500.
He received a two month custodial sentence suspended for three years in respect of the animal by-product charge, plus a £2,000 fine. In respect of the three charges of failing to comply a duty imposed by the legislation he was fined £2,250. In total he received £6750 in fines and a £15 offender levy. The case arose, from an unannounced farmed animal welfare inspection by DAERA staff. The inspection was scheduled as a result of previous breaches of animal welfare Regulations and the number of reported deaths of cattle in the herd in recent months.Fisherman fined for sowing uncultivated land
In another recent court case, Co. Down fisherman Geoffrey Chambers (63) of Moneydarragh Road in Annalong was fined a total of £2,500 for sowing and disturbing uncultivated land. Chambers was fined on June 21, at Newry Magistrates’ Court for one offence under the Environmental Impact Assessment (Agriculture) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2007. Chambers had failed to comply with a Reinstatement Notice to return a field at Mill Road, Mullartown, Annalong, back to “good environmental condition”. A Reinstatement Notice on the lands at Mill Road in Mullartown, Annalong had been issued to Chambers in 2018 to return the field to a good environmental condition after he had disturbed uncultivated semi-natural grasslands, scrub and wet heath moorland. In 2018 and 2019, it was discovered that instead of implementing the Reinstatement Notice, Chambers had conducted works in contravention of the Reinstatement Notice requirements:- Sowing out unpermitted clover and grasses in contravention of Reinstatement Notice requirements;
- Applying fertiliser, lime and slurry to the field in contravention of Reinstatement Notice requirements.
