Category Archives: Equine Abuse

Cruelty to horses, ponies and donkeys

Malvern, Worcestershire: Rose Jay

May 2, 2008 misanthropic Leave a comment

CONVICTED (2008) | Rose Jay, born c. 1949, of Monksfield Farm, Monksfield Lane, Newland, Malvern WR13 5BB – found guilty of causing unnecessary suffering to a chestnut mare.

Convicted animal abuser Rose Jay from Malvern, Worcestershire — Rose Jay outside court in 2008

Jay’s pregnant horse, called Sunshine, was found emaciated and being kept, along with others, in a Christmas tree plantation.

A representative from World Horse Welfare (formerly ILPH) visited Jay’s farm in 2006 and saw the mare in poor condition in a field with some hay but no water.

She visited again a few weeks later and found the horses were without grass, hay or water.

On March 15, 2007, the woman discovered the horses had been moved to a Christmas tree plantation.

Nicholas Sutton, prosecuting on behalf of the RSPCA, said: “The mare appeared to have deteriorated.

“There was no hay or grass in the plantation but there was straw.”

A few days later, the woman returned and was shocked to see the mare was emaciated, with protruding spine and ribs.

The RSPCA was contacted and a vet subsequently said the animal, which also had lice and worms, had been suffering for several weeks.

Representing herself, Jay said the mare had since given birth to a healthy foal and had absorbed the weight to put into the foal.

She said she moved the horses to the plantation after an attempted theft and was £30,000 in debt.

She said her other horses were healthy and she intended to appeal against her conviction.

The RSPCA’s chief inspector for Worcestershire, Lee Hopgood, welcomed the sentence imposed on Jay, saying: “I feel it adequately reflects the seriousness of the offence and Mrs Jay’s clear inability to adequately care for horses or take advice.”

Sentencing:
12-week prison sentence suspended for 13 months. Total of £3,150 costs including vets’ bills. Banned from keeping horses and ponies for five years (expired May 2013).

Worcester News

Birds, Dogs, Equine Abuse, Hoarders, horses and ponies, Lifers, Multiple Species, rabbits, Serial Animal Abusers, Small Furries, Worst of the Worst

Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire: Lee Howard

September 25, 2007 misanthropic 1 Comment

CONVICTED (2007) | animal hoarder Lee Howard, born 12 August 1966, of Shinwell Crescent, Middlesbrough TS6 6LJ – let nearly 30 animals die of thirst and starvation at a County Durham stables.

Serial animal hoarder and abuser Lee Howard from Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire

Lee Howard was charged after the RSPCA discovered animal remains at Bank Top Stables in Trimdon, County Durham, in May 2005.

Magistrates heard that 13 horses and ponies, 11 hens, four dogs, and a rabbit died of dehydration and starvation over a period of several weeks after being locked up at the stables. Three dogs survived by eating the remains of the dead animals.

In March 2006 Howard was sentenced to six months in jail and banned from keeping animals for the rest of his life.

Just a few months later Howard was back in court after it was discovered he was keeping 11 dogs and 16 birds at a house in Delarden Road, Pallister Park, Middlesbrough.

The animals were kept in squalid conditions, with the dogs running around in piles of faeces and pools of urine. Six of them had problems with their paws and one had an ear infection.

Howard was given a further six-month jail term for breaching his ban.

Sentencing: two custodial terms and a lifetime ban on keeping animals.

BBC News
GazetteLive

Update | August 2023

Lee Howard, who has used the name Lee Howard-Smith, was handed a suspended prison sentence after being caught breaching his ban. Several animals and birds were found living in squalor at his home. Howard, who since his original convictions has gone on to obtain multiple training certificates in animal care, was also working as a paid pet-sitter. He was caught out after a customer found his name and photograph on an animal cruelty website.

His address at the time of conviction was Scott Road, Kettering, North Northamptonshire.

Equine Abuse, horses and ponies, Violent and Sadistic Pet Abusers, Worst of the Worst

Bridgnorth, Shropshire/Teignmouth, Devon: Matthew Corfield and Alex Lister

April 7, 2007 misanthropic 28 Comments

CONVICTED (2007) | Matthew Alex Corfield, born 05/11/1988, of Garden Village, Highley, Bridgnorth, Shropshire WV16 6HN and Alex John Lister, born 22/09/1989, of Bickford Lane, Teignmouth TA14 8QT – attacked a horse with a meat cleaver, leaving her so badly injured she had to be put down.

Recent (2019) photos of horse killers Matthew Corfield (left) and Alex Lister

On Friday 13th April 2007, a 19-year-old piebald mare, known as Maggie, was attacked at Essington Hall Farm, Essington, South Staffordshire, by drunken youths Matthew Corfield and Alex Lister then of Wednesfield, Wolverhampton. A third youth – Anthony Ronald Hinsley, born 07/09/1988, of Fryer Close, Wolverhampton WV11 3JD, was also initially charged, but the case against him was later dropped.

Charges against Anthony Ronald Hinsley were dropped

The trio, who had been drinking in local woods with two other youths, went into Maggie’s field and startled her. As she fled, Corfield and Lister proceeded to chase her with the former repeatedly hurling a meat cleaver at her.

The court heard Corfield laughed as he inspected the 12-inch by five-inch blade for blood.

Maggie was found the following day lying in a pool of blood. She had suffered a five-inch-deep cut to her neck, a three-and-a-half-inch cut on her shoulder and her right leg was broken. The tendon of one of her rear legs was severed by a blow that cut to the bone. Her injuries were so severe that she had to be put to sleep on humane grounds.

Corfield, Lister and Hinsley were arrested after locals raised £1,500 for information leading to the conviction of those responsible.

Remorseless Matthew Corfield and accomplice Alex Lister (inset) pictured outside court in 2007

Paul Jenkins, defending Corfield, said he did not accept he was “solely or exclusively” to blame.

Jenkins said it was not a premeditated attack and that Corfield had taken the cleaver with him to chop wood to make a fire for the five friends who were camping in Black Cat Wood.

Ian Hodnett, for Lister, said he had tried but failed to film Corfield and another friend chasing the horse on his mobile phone.

He said Lister’s only other involvement was to chase Maggie around the paddock.

Corfield and Lister both admitted causing unnecessary suffering to Maggie. Corfield was given five months in a young offenders institution but was released after just eight weeks. His father, Peter Corfield, told a local newspaper that he believed his son “had definitely paid his debt to society”. He added that his son had been rehired by his employer, a building company.

Sentencing:
Corfield – five months in a young offenders institution. Ordered to do 180 hours of community work.

Lister – 12-month community order and 180 hours’ community service.

Horse and Hound
BBC News

Equine Abuse, farms / smallholdings, Food Production

Peterlee, County Durham: Maxine and Paul Askew

January 5, 2007 misanthropic Leave a comment

CONVICTED (2007) | Maxine Askew, born c. 1971, and husband Paul Askew, born 14 October 1976, formerly of Briardale Way, Easington, County Durham, and as at March 2019 believed to be living at Dixon Rise, Horden, Peterlee SR8 4HX – failed to seek veterinary help for their emaciated, lice-ridden pony

Maxine and Paul Askew admitted causing unnecessary suffering to the male bay pony whom the RSPCA had discovered in a distressed condition at an allotment in Hackworth Road, Blackpool.

The yearling was examined by a vet and was found to be very thin. He was covered in live lice and eggs and had sustained large areas of hair loss.

The pony weighed only 101kg, but by August 2006, after being in the care of the RSPCA, he more than doubled his body weight to 233kg.

Paul and Maxine Askew from Peterlee — The Askews were banned from keeping horses for ten years.

When interviewed, Paul Askew said he had only had the colt for four to five months and he had been in the best of health “until it got these fleas”, which he said he treated with powder.

When questioned, Maxine Askew said her husband had been treating the fleas and she described the pony as a “fussy eater”.

Sentencing: total fines and costs of £875 each. Disqualified from keeping horses for ten years (expired January 2017).

Northern Echo

Equine Abuse, horses and ponies, Lifers

Bromsgrove, Worcestershire: Derek Monkton

February 23, 2005 misanthropic Leave a comment

CONVICTED (2005) | Derek Thomas Monkton, born c. 1943 (deceased as of December 2021*), of 49 Broad Street, Bromsgrove B61 8LL – kept three ponies in diabolical conditions.

Monkton pleaded guilty to charges of causing unnecessary suffering to the ponies.

The neglect suffered by the three young colts was so bad it resulted in one having to be put down because of the irreparable damage done by the growing tendons on his legs.

Chief Field Officer at the International League for the Protection of Horses (ILPH) Paul Teasdale, speaking after the court hearing, said he had visited a property at Upton Warren on July 1, 2003.

“I visited this property with an RSPCA inspector, Simon Dix, and found three colts, virtually imprisoned, in filthy conditions, in tiny pens.

“The conditions these ponies were kept in was diabolical, filthy and disgusting,” he added.

The barn the ponies were kept in was described as ‘dark, airless and acrid with the smell of ammonia and droppings.’

“Their hooves had clearly not been trimmed for over 12 months, they were the worst feet I have ever seen,” said Mr Teasdale.

The other two ponies have been left unrideable because of their distorted lower limbs.

Monkton agreed to sign the ponies over to the ILPH and they were taken to the Glenda Spooner Farm, at Hoarwithy, in Herefordshire.

No evidence was brought against Victoria Jean Manns, of the same address, who was also charged with the same offence.

Sentencing: concurrent seven-week custodial sentence. Banned from keeping domestic animals for life.