Two South West farmers have been banned from keeping animals following separate investigations by the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) into animal welfare cases.
Timothy Dean Harris of St. Tudy, Cornwall was sentenced at Bodmin Magistrates’ Court and received a 20-week custodial sentence, suspended for 18 months, on April 25, this year.
He was also ordered to pay £5,000 in costs and a £128 victim surcharge and was banned from ever owning farm animals again.
In response to a complaint, APHA inspectors visited his stock in May 2022 and detected unnecessary suffering in beef cattle.
A follow-up visit in June 2022 showed that whilst improvements had occurred, non-compliances continued to be detected. The APHA received further complaints which were inspected in November 2022 and February 2023.
The court heard that Harris took responsibility for what happened, but Magistrates said the case showed prolonged neglect with Harris ignoring warnings and advice. They said this resulted in high harm to the animals, including death.
South West farmers
The APHA also brought forward the prosecution of Diana Swabey, New House Farm, Devon, who had already pleaded guilty to 16 charges relating to animal welfare.
When Swabey’s premises was visited by the APHA in March 2022, inspectors found numerous animals in poor conditions including cattle, sheep, pigs, horses and poultry.
On April 26, 2023, the Devon farmer was sentenced with a 16-week custodial sentence, suspended for 18 months, and ordered to do 150 hours unpaid work on each of her four unnecessary suffering charges.
She was also been banned from keeping animals for 10 years.
Head of field delivery England, APHA, Aled Edwards, said: “APHA takes potential breaches of animal welfare legislation very seriously and investigates all allegations.
“These cases demonstrate our robust enforcement processes, and the effective collaboration between ourselves and local authorities.
“I welcome these sentences from the courts and hope they will act as a deterrent to others.”
