A British farmer who neglected more than 450 animals on a farm in Nottinghamshire has been jailed and handed a lifetime animal ban by a judge.
The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) discovered the animals living in “appalling conditions” at Croftfield Farm, near Sutton-in-Ashfield, when they attended the site with police officers.
According to the RSPCA, the case was one of the largest it has dealt with and led to a large-scale rescue operation which resulted in the seizure of 455 animals of 19 different species.
The owner of the farm, Lee Hayes, was handed a 12-month prison sentence and a lifetime animal ban by District Judge, Grace Leong, at Mansfield Magistrates’ Court.
The judge described the evidence presented of the defendant’s “deliberate and sustained” neglect was “harrowing”.
Hayes claimed the farm had “all got a little out of hand”, but the district judge said the defendant had ignored advice to make welfare improvements, including from staff of a donkey sanctuary who had visited the farm in 2016, and the RSPCA.
The judge told Hayes that he lacked “insight in the care of animals” and also presented a high risk of offending again as far as the welfare of animals was concerned.
The defendant’s girlfriend, Tammy Heath, of Moorland Close, Skegby, also pleaded guilty to two animal welfare offences relating to failing to meet the needs of two dogs.
She received a 13-week prison sentence, which was suspended for 12 months, and was banned by the judge from keeping canines for five years and will have to complete 200 hours of unpaid work.
Animals
RSPCA officers were helped in the rescue operation of the animals by over 100 staff from seven other charities.
Hayes signed over a large number of the animals to the RSPCA, but the charity needed to obtain a court order to remove the farmer’s stock of equines and farm animals.
Lame and emaciated cows, underweight donkeys, horses, dogs, goats, and birds were among those rescued from the farm.
RSPCA Inspector Baker, who led the operation, said: “The conditions we found all these animals living in were absolutely appalling.
“The smell of manure hit as soon as you walked through the gate and the sheer volume of animals in dire circumstances was quite overwhelming.
“There was a very lame cow tied up in one of the barns that was the most broken animal I had ever seen.
“There was also a lamb I will never forget, her leg was swinging and the smell of infection from her was the worst thing ever – she’d been attacked by a dog some days before and just left suffering with multiple fractures.”
