Horse charities welcome cruelty verdict (From This Is Local London)

Horse charities welcome cruelty verdict

5:54pm Friday 8th May 2009 in

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THE guilty verdicts against five members of the same family who had been accused of animal cruelty have been welcomed by charities that took in the neglected creatures.

Over 100 horses, donkeys and ponies were seized from Spindles Farm in Chalk Lane, Hyde Heath, in January last year over concerns for their welfare.

Some were in such a poor state they had to be put down and many were severely emaciated – and it has cost £850,000 to provide care for the animals that were seized by the RSPCA.

Today the farm's owner, 44-year-old James Gray, was convicted of eleven charges under the Animal Welfare Act of causing unnecessary suffering and failing to protect animals from pain, injury, suffering and disease.

His 16-year-old son, James junior, was also found guilty of all the offences following a 50-day trial at Bicester Magistrates' Court.

Wife Julie and daughters Jodie and Cordelia were cleared of causing unnecessary suffering but found guilty of failing to protect animals at Spindles Farm.

The convictions have been welcomed by the Horse Trust, based at Speen.

Chief executive Paul Jepson said he was “delighted” at the verdict, adding: "This paves the way for future cases and will hopefully make people think again before keeping their animals in such conditions."

All the animals taken in from Spindles Farm were underweight and gained an average of 80kg in weight within the first four months.

Mr Jepson said: "All the horses, ponies and donkeys that arrived from Spindles Farm were underweight and some were painfully thin.

"One donkey, Gladys, was so weak from starvation that she was unable to stand unaided for the first ten days.

“Within four months she had gained nearly three-quarters of her original body weight - going from 146 to 251 kilograms."

The Redwings horse charity, based in Norfolk, took in 21 equines after they were seized from Spindles Farm.

Nicolas De Brauwere, head of welfare at Redwings, said: “I feel the evidence of cruelty and the extent of equine suffering in this case was so overwhelming that a guilty verdict was the only possible outcome so I am delighted with today's result.

“I have no doubt that what myself and my colleagues saw that day will remain with us for the rest of our lives and I hope it illustrates that the changes to the Animal Welfare Act were a landmark in equine welfare.”

Kirsty Hampton, one of the first RSPCA inspectors to arrive at the farm, said she had “never seen anything on this scale”.

She told the Bucks Free Press outside court today: “We weren't expecting to see anything like we did. It was quite disturbing what we saw, very distressing.

“It's certainly the worst animal cruelty case I have dealt with.”