Farmer jailed for animal cruelty

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/england/merseyside/7469616.stm

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Investigators who raided a Cheshire farm after a tip-off from worried farm workers said they discovered horrific scenes of "truly gothic proportions".

David Dobbin's farm in Backford, near Chester, was raided by Trading Standards and Defra officers in 2007.

They found a herd of 500 cattle - twice the number he could sustain - "some almost dead on their feet".

Dobbin admitted disposing of bovine carcasses and animal cruelty and was jailed for four months on Friday.

The farmer, who had previously claimed Trading Standards and Defra had carried out a "witch hunt" against him, was also banned from keeping animals for 10 years. Dobbin was banned from keeping animals for 10 years

Dobbin's former partner, Susan Lofthouse, 36, admitted the same charges at the Chester Crown Court hearing.

Both asked for 500 counts of failing to keep proper cattle records to be taken into account.

They also jointly admitted six specimen counts under the Trade Descriptions Act of "clocking" cattle by switching identification ear tags - some from dead cows - and four of selling such "worthless" cattle to other farmers.

Ms Lofthouse was sentenced to four months in jail, suspended for a year, and handed a 150-hour community service order.

The court heard that Dobbin endangered public health by illegally dumping cow limbs and carcasses in a grisly burial pit emitting "a pungent stench".

They were said to have died at the rate of five a week. Trading Standards officers found a herd of 500 cattle at the farm

Arthur Gibson, for the defence, said the crimes were not committed out of greed but in a bid to repay considerable debts.

Speaking outside court, Vanessa Griffiths, of Cheshire Trading Standards, said the outcome had fully vindicated the action by the county's animal welfare officers.

"Mr Dobbin's allegations of a witch hunt against him by ourselves and Defra were nothing more than a flagrant and calculated attempt to prevent the truth emerging," she said.

"Sadly, he showed scant regard for regulations to protect public health and even less consideration for the suffering of his animals."

She added: "Strict regulations governing cattle identification were introduced in the wake of the potentially fatal mad cow disease.

"They are not a bureaucratic whim to be ignored or deliberately flouted."