Warrant issued for man found guilty of neglecting his horses

9:19am Friday 19th February 2010

By Jim Entwistle

A MAN has been found guilty of neglecting his two horses after the animals were found emaciated and worm-ridden by RSPCA inspectors.

Graham Brown ignored warnings about the welfare of his horses until they were just weeks away from death.

Brown, 49, of Browney Lane, in Browney, near Durham City, was found guilty of two charges of animal neglect, and two charges of failing to take reasonable steps to ensure the animals’ needs were met, at Darlington Magistrates’ Court yesterday. He had earlier denied the offences.

Brown failed to attend the hearing, although a doctor’s note produced in court stated he had been depressed.

But after being told that Brown had repeatedly failed to attend previous court dates, chairman of the bench David Raine said the hearing should proceed in his absence.

RSPCA inspector Garry Palmer said he had found the two horses in a tiny paddock, near the SG Petch garage, in Stonebridge, south of Durham City, in August 2008.

A third of the field was flooded, and another third was overrun with ragwort, a plant species poisonous to horses. With no grass left to eat, the starving animals resorted to eating the poisonous weed to sate their appetites, he said. This has left one of them with liver disease.

Mr Palmer said he warned Brown to improve conditions in the paddock and to supplement the horses’ diets. But when he returned a week later, there was no evidence that anything had been done.

In court, vet John Creaner said the animals could have been dead within three weeks.

“It could have been as little as a week before they had reached the point of no return,”

Mr Creaner said the horses should have weighed about 400kg each. When they were seized, one horse weighed 263kg, and the second weighed 279kg. They soon put on weight after being cared for at an RSPCA equine centre.

It is estimated that keeping the horses, and nursing them back to health, has cost the RSPCA about £5,000.

Kevin Campbell, prosecuting on behalf of the charity, requested a deprivation order, which will allow foster homes to be found for the horses.

Following the hearing, Mr Palmer said: “This man from day one has told the RSPCA that he had 40 years’ experience in keeping horses and that he was a competent horseman.

“Unfortunately, he failed in the very basics of providing the animals with food and a nutritious diet.”