A man who left his horses for dead has been given a lifetime ban and prison sentence. Ben Neill, 38, was sentenced to 24 weeks in jail yesterday for causing unnecessary suffering to a horse and failing to meet the needs of three ponies.
He was found guilty of all three animal welfare offences and has now been disqualified from keeping equines for life - after being prosecuted by the RSPCA. A trial was heard at Barnstaple Magistrates Court in his absence in January after he failed to attend.
The charity's inspector Claire Ryder, launched their investigation after receiving a call in March last year from a member of the public who had seen a horse collapsed in a muddy field in Landkey, near Barnstaple, Devon. After sending a vet to the scene, they reported the chestnut gelding called Eddy, was in a "terrible state", unable to lift his head from the mud - let alone stand up.
In her report to court, the vet said she thought Eddy had been down for some time as she was unable to get him up on his feet. Sadly there was no alternative but to put him to sleep on welfare grounds to end his suffering.
Neill, of Barnstaple, told magistrates that Eddy had been: “Jumping and bouncing around that morning”.
Magistrates sentencing Neill told him he had shown little remorse.
They said: “We have listened to the case from the RSPCA and seen photos of the horse and ponies - Eddy had a ruptured eyeball, was hypothermic in a collapsed state, emaciated and unable to access food and water."
A further three ponies - two bay gelding called Tye and Dorcas, and a mare called Darcy - were also located in a field next to Eddy that was very muddy with limited grazing. They had no accessible shelter and the only water source was a stream running along the bottom of a steep bank in the corner of their field.
All three ponies were in poor condition and the vet concluded Tye was suffering and Darcy and Dorcus were soon to follow suit. Sadly Dorcus was later put to sleep due to the discovery of untreatable tumours, but Tye and Darcy were both rehomed with the Hugs Foundation - an Cornish equine rescue charity which offers therapeutic interventions to vulnerable people to increase health and wellbeing.
The veterinary evidence heard in court concluded: "I have no doubt that Eddy and Tye were suffering unreasonably and unnecessarily and that this suffering had been present for at least a month. Suffering unquestionably could have been prevented had [Neill] sought advice sooner.”
In addition to the lifetime disqualification from keeping equines, which he can not appeal for 10 years, Neill was sentenced to 24 weeks immediate custody. The magistrates highlighted his lack of appreciation to the animals’ suffering, that he failed to adhere to previous warnings and advice given to him by the RSPCA, that he knew help was available but failed to seek it.
