9:28am Friday 19th March 2010
A FARMER who allowed manure from his herd of 70 cows to flood an elderly neighbour’s home with slurry was yesterday ordered to pay £10,000.
John Cockerill, 45, from Rosedale East, North Yorkshire, allowed manure to build up on his land until heavy rain caused slurry to flow into neighbouring properties and streams.
It caused a 3in flood in the kitchen and living area of neighbour June Crossley’s home, causing extensive damage and forcing the pensioner to move out for more than a month.
Mr Cockerill had pleaded guilty at Scarborough Magistrates’ Court to causing pollution to enter controlled waters and keeping controlled waste on a smallholding between September 2008 and April 2009. Sentencing Cockerill at York Crown Court yesterday, Judge James Spencer said: “You behaved in the most irresponsible manner.”
He ordered Cockerill to pay £6,296 in compensation to the Environment Agency and a £2,000 fine. He was also told to pay £1,719 in costs.
Ruth Cranidge, in mitigation, said Cockerill had sold most of his herd and now had only 15 cows and ten calves.
She described the lifestyle of the defendant, who still lives with his parents, as chaotic and said he struggled to manage the upkeep of the farm and his cows around his full-time job.
She said: “He had far too many. It was chaos on the farm and the situation spiralled out of his control. He simply took on too much.”
Environment Agency officers described the situation on the farm as the worst they had seen in 30 years.
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