CONVICTED (2023) | Charles W Gibson, born c. 1972, and Alison Bailey, born c. 1979, of Leonards Farm, Hot Lane, Biddulph Moor, Stoke-on-Trent ST8 7HP – for the appalling neglect of dozens of animals found dead and dying on their squalid dairy farm.
The couple, who left livestock to suffer and die in dung and slurry, stood ashen-faced in Telford Magistrates Court as a district judge condemned their “utterly disgraceful” animal neglect.
In a visit to Leonards Farm one officer had described the “stench of rotting animals to be overwhelming” and the scenes they found were appalling.
The court saw shocking videos of rows of dead and emaciated cattle who had been denied even water to drink for long periods. The judge said the videos he had seen showed dung and slurry had been ankle-deep at best.
Farm buildings had holes in the roof and even no roof at all while concrete floors had been covered in slurry and manure because Gibson “could not be bothered” to clean them out.
“It was utterly disgraceful,” said District Judge Kevin Grego. “Animals had died and been left where they lay. Dead animals were left in unguarded open pits which other animals could just walk into.
“Charles Gibson, you ignored any proper view of animal husbandry. All the animals in your care were very badly mistreated.”
Gibson pleaded guilty to 28 charges of causing unnecessary suffering and failing to ensure the welfare of cattle, sheep, goats, a herd of 26 cattle and a flock of 31 sheep including one blind ram.
His co-accused Alison Bailey admitted neglecting a flock of chickens.
She pleaded guilty to one charge of causing unnecessary suffering to an injured young hen, another charge of failing to ensure the needs of an animal were met, and another that she failed to protect a flock of more than 50 young and laying hens from pain, suffering, injury and disease.
The court was told that the number of charges had been reduced from more than 100 to the 28 that Gibson faced and the three against Bailey.
The judge said that the floors of farm buildings had been “unscraped for months” and “living beasts were left to rot and indeed die”.
The offences had been discovered between May and December 2020 by trading standards officers who had received a complaint from a member of the public.
Jane Sarginson KC, prosecuting, had told the court that a council officer had “never seen animals more desperate for water”. An officer was “mugged” by the animals when a bucket of water was taken into one of the pens.
Thirty-five calves on the site drank 75 litres of water in one go, she told the court.
A calf, she said, had a “tennis ball-sized lump on the side of its face” and a bull had been kept “deep in muck and slurry over a foot deep”.
In a visit to the farm one officer had described the “stench of rotting animals to be overwhelming” with five dead and rotting calves covered in fly and maggot infestation.
She added that one poor creature was thought to be pregnant but in fact had a prolapse and had to be put down on the spot.
A large number of animals had to be euthanised by vets, their condition being so poor, including a piglet that had been stuck in the mud. Some 29 calves had to be “humanely dispatched,” said Jane Sarginson.
Two burial pits had been found on the site, despite it being illegal to dispose of creatures in this way.
Adrian Roberts, mitigating for Gibson and Bailey, asked the judge to be as lenient as he could as Gibson was earning £600 per week but had £20,000 in debts. Bailey, he said, had mental health concerns.
He asked the judge to allow them to keep their pets, including cats, dogs, chickens and goats, but this was denied.
They were given 48 hours to arrange for their domestic pets to be taken away from them.
Sentencing |
Gibson: 20-week prison sentence suspended for 12 months; 200 hours of unpaid work over the next 12 months; £4,000 in court costs.
Bailey: 80 hours of unpaid work; £1,000 in court costs.
They were also both disqualified from keeping all animals, including pets, and banned from being party to any control or influence, dealing and transportation of animals, indefinitely.