CONVICTED (2018) | Robin Jefferies, born 30/05/1968, and Pauline Vinall, born 22/05/1987, both of Dormington Road, Paulsgrove, Portsmouth PO6 – let their horses become emaciated and burdened with life-threatening worms
Robin Jefferies and Pauline Vinall were found guilty of 13 animal welfare offences relating to horses after a seven-day trial at Portsmouth Magistrates Court.
Prosecuting, Sara Pratt told magistrates how the pair allowed some of their horses to suffer ‘prolonged neglect’.
Some battled a ‘worm infestation’, she said, which could have killed them.
Ms Pratt said: ‘Those horses were perhaps very fortunate they remained alive.’
According to statistics, she outlined, as many as 70 per cent of horses fighting the same infestation typically die.
RSPCA chief inspector, Jen Ride, said the pair’s animal offences were reflective of the so-called ‘equine [horse] crisis’.
She said: ‘It’s a prolonged problem of breeding out of control and not having the land or management for such a huge numbers of equines.
‘There were about 35 horses when we visited and we removed nine.’
Jefferies was already banned from keeping animals following a cruelty conviction in October 2014. The court acknowledged that Vinall had abetted Jefferies in breaching that ban.
Magistrate Jonathan Berry called Jefferies’ most recent neglect a ‘flagrant breach’ of his previous disqualification.
Sentencing:
Jefferies: 22-week suspended custodial sentence. Lifetime ban on keeping horses reimposed with no right of appeal for 10 years.
Vinall: conditional discharge. Vinall will pay £20 for her discharge. Seven-year ban on keeping horses (expires April 2025).