TWO people responsible for the suffering of hundreds of livestock at a farm in Olveston, described as an 'animal welfare disaster' have appeared in court for sentencing.

Susan Smith, 60 of Ingst Manor Farm, Ingst Hill, Olveston, and Mark Downes, 50 of Conniston Road, Patchway were both found guilty of animal welfare offences brought by the RSPCA and charges relating to trading standards offences brought by South Gloucestershire Council, at Bristol Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday, June 5.

The pair appeared for sentencing at the same court today, where a further nine charges against Smith were put to the court regarding further animal welfare and trading standards breaches at Ingst Manor Farm between October and December 2017, all met with ‘not guilty’ pleas.

Hazel Stevens, prosecuting on behalf of the RSPCA and SGC, said that the case ‘involved multiple species over a lengthy period of time’, resulting in many complaints from neighbours and members of the public ‘affected by the situation’.

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“This has not been a pleasant experience for anyone in that area, people driving past or taking small children to school,” she said, adding that Smith was ‘highly culpable’ of long-term neglect, ‘ignoring warnings or advice’ and offering no surrender of the animals.

Ms Stevens requested lifelong bans from owning, trading or transporting animals for both Smith and Downes, with no opportunity for appeal for 10 years.

Defending Smith, Sarah-Lise Howe said her client had been ‘dealing with a sad time’, finding herself overwhelmed by the death of her father and the diagnosis and treatment of her mother’s cancer, resulting in a ‘slow ebb’ to illness herself.

She said that Smith had found herself in ‘a perfect storm from which she was physically and mentally unable to cope’.

Following a consideration on sentencing, District Judge Lyn Matthews decided that the court’s powers were insufficient for Smith’s case, with her case transferred to Bristol Crown Court on July 25.

DJ Matthews, however, decided that Downes’ case would be within the limitations of the Magistrates’ Court sentencing guidelines.

Defending Downes’, Alex Weller said he had ‘shown remorse’ and had ‘not sought to own other animals since 2015 when the RSPCA took his horses and has no intention to do so’.

“I don’t think this is a deliberate or gratuitous attempt to cause suffering or failure to meet the animals’ needs, nor do I think it is an intention to neglect,” he said.

Mr Weller added that he had no reason to stay at the farm but had loyalty to Smith and her family, and has no commercial or monetary stake in the farm.

DJ Matthews responded: “But he had an agreement to keep the horses on the farm. It was not extremely altruistic, they had an arrangement.”

Calling for a suspended sentence, Mr Weller said that due to Downes’ health situation, having mobility issues since an accident 12 years ago and facing a risk of losing his foot by the end of the summer, he felt an immediate custodial sentence is not appropriate.

He also appealed to the court for any ban to only apply to the species of animals that the case concerned.

Sentencing

DJ Matthews said that when the RSPCA arrived at Ingst Manor Farm in 2015, they were walking into an ‘animal welfare disaster’, giving examples, including a calf stood by the carcass of its mother and pigs feeding on the body of another.

She described the farm conditions as ‘appalling’ and ‘not a short-term incident’ with no contingency plan in place

“Taking everything into account, I put Mr Downes into a different category to Miss Smith,” said DJ Matthews.

“His failing with the farm animals were not deliberate, he was inadequeste to the task. But there was an opportunity to learn, an opportunity that doesn’t appear to have been taken.

“I do find high culpability because there was long-term neglect. Many animals died and Mr Downes was responsible for them.

“Many animals suffered, many animals died, and many animals were neglected.”

Downes was given a lifetime ban on owning horses, pigs, goats, sheep and cattle, and handed a 32-week prison sentence. On his release, he would also have to pay £1,000 in compensation.

DJ Matthews said that the sum was ‘nowhere near the tens of thousands that had been incurred, but it had to be reasonable’ given Downes’ financial situation.

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What happened?

RSPCA inspectors visited the farm in March 2015, following months of complaints by neighbours and passers-by, and on arrival were met with scenes of suffering. 

They uncovered sheep, pigs, cows, goats and horses struggling for survival as they clambered over piles of dead bodies, with some trapped waist-deep in faeces.

Hundreds of dead animals and body parts were also piled up and scattered across the large secluded farm.

On further visits to the farm, RSPCA inspectors also found more animals in need of help, including dogs who had also been suffering and in unsuitable conditions.

During visits to the farm, officers saw thin horses walking through thick, deep mud that was up to their knees in some places, surrounded by scrap metal, barbed wire, broken fencing and a bonfire containing animal bones.

A decomposing horse was found wrapped in plastic, with another dead horse discovered attached to the rear of a vehicle with rope tied around their neck.

A muddy barn filled with sick and starving sheep, cows and pigs was found to also contain piles of dead animals, with lambs and calves standing next to what are thought to be their dead mothers.

Vets and police officers joined the RSPCA on numerous visits to the farm between March 2015 and August 2015.

Inspectors returned in April 2016 with a veterinary surgeon and animal health enforcement officer from South Gloucestershire Council.

Numerous pigs were found in the top area of a field, consuming a deceased sheep, with other live pigs seen eating a deceased pig in a pig pen. There were also piles of carcasses throughout the barn amongst the live sheep and dogs kept in small, faeces-filled cages without food or water.