Man is jailed after horse left to starve

Nov 18 2008 by Dave Black, The Journal

TWO vets worked for several hours in a vain bid to save a starved and neglected horse which was found lying helpless in a muddy field in the middle of winter, a court heard yesterday.

Chestnut mare Sunshine was severely emaciated and so weak from a lack of food and water that she was unable to stand up when she was discovered in the scruffy paddock at West Chevington Farm, Northumberland, in January.

She had been trying unsuccessfully to struggle to her feet in a patch of thick mud in the field – which contained piles of rubbish but no food or water – before she became too exhausted to move.

Two female vets called out by the RSPCA gave Sunshine intravenous fluids and anti-inflammatory drugs in a bid to save her life, but after three and a half hours decided the most humane course of action was to put her to sleep.

Yesterday the animal’s owner, Liam Taylor, 27, of Lintonburn Park, Widdrington near Morpeth, was sent to prison for 14 weeks and banned from keeping animals for 20 years after admitting causing the horse unnecessary suffering.

Magistrates in Bedlington said the case was distasteful and involved extreme neglect, made worse by the fact that Taylor was someone with the knowledge of how to look after animals properly.

Yesterday’s hearing came three months after Taylor and his mother Susan, 49, were both banned from keeping animals for 10 years by magistrates in Alnwick for a similar offence involving a horse.

In that case, their bay mare Misty was taken into the care of the RSPCA after being found barely able to walk up a hill and with all of her bones and ribs visible at a farm near Felton, Northumberland, in January 2007.

The Taylors, who were described as avid horse lovers, were ordered to do 300 hours unpaid work each and to pay £975 court costs between them after pleading guilty to cruelty.

Yesterday Judith Curry, prosecuting for the RSPCA, said local resident Hayley Robinson found Sunshine lying in the paddock after being approached by a woman who was trying to trace the owner of the stricken animal.

At first she thought the horse was already dead but then called the RSPCA after realising it was still alive.

The two vets who tried to save the horse concluded that she had suffered for two to three weeks, because of the conditions in the field and a totally inadequate diet.

Michelle Lamond, defending, said it was a truly dis- tasteful case to which anyone’s reaction would be one of horror.

She said the offence was committed at a time when Taylor was struggling to cope because of family problems.

This meant he had not been looking after himself properly, with the knock-on effect that he had been unable to care for his horses properly.