On 6 May, Cambridge Magistrates court imposed a 12-month Community Order requiring 150 hours of unpaid work on two livestock keepers from Over.
It comes following successful prosecution by Trading Standards in December in relation to animal welfare and disease control offences. They were also disqualified from owning and keeping animals other than cats and dogs for 5 years.
Mr William Dickinson, 27, of no fixed abode and his mother Mrs Tara Thorneycroft, 56, of Hilton St, Over keep livestock at Greengage Farm, Impington.
They pleaded guilty to 19 offences contrary to the Animal Welfare Act 2006 and the Animal Health Act 1981.
Officers from Trading Standards had visited the holding on 9 occasions since April 2024, giving extensive advice to Mr Dickinson and Mrs Thorneycroft on how to meet the basic welfare needs of the animals and poultry.
When advice wasn’t followed an Improvement Notice and subsequently a Warning Notice were issued, and yet serious welfare breaches continued.
On inspections when temperatures were reaching 28 and 30 degrees, sheep, goats, pigs and poultry were found to have no water, and the horses, donkeys and sheep lacked grazing.
On other occasions horses and donkeys were found to be in a hazardous environment and a horse was lame. Pigs were found with no bedding or wallow.
A re-inspection just days before the first hearing in court found horses, pigs, sheep and goats to be living in pens of thick mud, with no dry lying area and no water.
Cambridge Magistrates Court imposed a Community Order, 5-year Disqualification Order and awarded £2,000 in costs from each defendant.
Peter Gell, Head of Service for Cambridgeshire County Council’s Trading Standards team, said: “This case sends a clear message that we will not tolerate breaches of basic animal welfare standards in Cambridgeshire.
“Whilst it is accepted Mr Dickinson and Mrs Thorneycroft were new to livestock keeping, when bringing animals into their care they have a duty to research how to meet the basic needs of those animals and put all measures in place to ensure their welfare needs are met.
“Officers visited time and time again, providing them with extensive advice on what was required of them, and yet serious welfare breaches continued and animals in their care continued to suffer.
“Other enforcement sanctions did little to accelerate progress, so prosecution became the only remaining recourse to protect the animals on the small holding. The sentence today will ensure that no animals suffer in their care for the next 5 years.”
