Tag Archives: Appleby Horse Fair

Animal Abandonment, bird trapping, Birds, Dogs, Equine Abuse, horses and ponies, Multiple Species, Traveller Animal Crimes

Malton, North Yorkshire/Hunslet, Leeds: Michael Price and Shannon Hanrahan

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CONVICTED (2020) | Michael Patrick Price, born 07/05/1991, of 24 Lime Tree Avenue, Malton YO17 7BZ, and partner Shannon Hanrahan (aka Shannon Price) born 04/06/1993, of Kidacre Park travellers site, Kidacre Street, Leeds LS10 1BD – abandoned several animals at Appleby Horse Fair

Animal abuser Shannon Hanrahan aka Shannon Price. a traveller based in Leeds

RSPCA inspectors were alerted after a passer-by saw that a pony had been left tethered beside the A685 just outside of Kirkby Stephen while two dogs were running loose near to two empty kennels.

None of the animals were being supervised or looked after, and the pony had no access to drinking water. Another dog – found in a cage without bedding – had no clean drinking water.

Animals abandoned and mistreated by gypsies Michael Price and Shannon Hanrahan
Gypsies Michael Price and Shannon Hanrahan mistreated animals and birds in their care

RSPCA inspector Claire Little said: “On Friday 31st May, whilst on duty in Kirkby Stephen, Cumbria, my colleague and I received a request from the police to help with some animals.

“As we arrived at the location I saw a brindle lurcher-type dog and what appeared to be a collie-type dog amongst the traffic and the police were trying to catch them.

“We pulled over and I managed to secure the dogs and get them into our van for safekeeping whilst we approached the police officers.

“It was explained to us that the owners of the dogs were believed to be the occupants of a caravan on the side of the road and that they were in Bradford.

“The dogs were wearing collars but there was no tethering equipment of any kind and a small caged area measuring approximately 2 ft x 2 ft x 2 ft with no lid was the only possible living area I could see for them. There was no shelter available for the cage.

“The police were concerned regarding some birds in cages they had seen inside a van next to the caravan so my colleague went to look at those – they turned out to be wild goldfinches.

“I then saw a small cream Lhasa Apso-type dog that appeared young, inside a metal cage at the side of the road. The cage had a lid that was secured but there was no shelter and the dog was laying on wet grass with no access to water. As the weather was wet I was concerned about the dog as they appeared to be shivering.

“A grey shetland pony tethered with a length of blue nylon rope tied around their neck was nearby. The rope was so tight that I couldn’t get my finger between the rope and the neck and I was concerned that this may start to injure the pony if they remained in this situation. The rope was tied to a nearby branch of a hedge that was quite flimsy. The pony’s hooves appeared overgrown.

“The police took the three dogs and pony into possession and placed them in RSPCA care.”

Michael Patrick Price admitted not ensuring the needs of the pony were met, and the same charge for a lurcher dog and a collie cross.

He also admitted having two goldfinches.

Animal abuser Shannon Hanrahan aka Shannon Price. a traveller based in Leeds

His co-accused Shannon Hanrahan admitted failing to ensure the proper care of the caged dog, and illegally having the two goldfinches.

A deprivation order was placed on the pony and two dogs who will now pass into RSPCA care and be rehomed. The birds were released back into the wild.

Sentencing:
Price was given 60 hours of unpaid work and ordered to pay costs and charges totalling £690. He was banned from owning or keeping any animal for four years.

Hanrahan was given a 14-day curfew at an address in Byker, Newcastle. She must pay also £250 costs and a £32 victim surcharge.

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deer, Dogs, Equine Abuse, hare coursing, horse traders, horses and ponies, hunting with dogs, Multiple Species, Organised Animal Crime, Serial Animal Abusers, Traveller Animal Crimes, Wildlife Crime / Bloodsports, working equines, Worst of the Worst

Maidstone, Kent: Jimmy Price, Samuel Powell and Danny Price

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CONVICTED (2020) | Maidstone gypsies and serial animal abusers Jimmy Price, born 2 September 1994, of Forstal Farm, Well Street, Loose ME15 0QE, Samuel ‘Johnny’ Powell, born c. 1985, of Wheat Gratten Stableyards, Forstal Road, Lenham ME17 2BF, Danny Price, born c. 1990, of Victoria Stables, Victoria Court, East Farleigh ME15 0BW

Serial abusers from Maidstone, Kent, UK Samuel Powell (left) and career criminal Jimmy Price were both jailed for animal cruelty.
Serial animal abusers Samuel Powell (left) and Jimmy Price were both jailed for their latest acts of cruelty.

Jimmy Price and Samuel Powell were sent to prison after the former was filmed repeatedly stabbing a deer and the latter had put an eight-month-old foal to work. Price was also found guilty of causing unnecessary suffering to a horse and two dogs.

Qualified jockey Danny Price left a horse to starve to death but was let off with a community order and not banned from keeping animals.

Jimmy Price’s brother Danny Price – a qualified jockey – admitted letting a horse starve to death and received a community order.

Jimmy Price's brother Danny was convicted after his bay horse was found dead next to a hay bale during the RSPCA raid in March 2019. He had starved to death
Jimmy Price’s brother Danny was convicted after his bay horse was found dead next to a hay bale during the RSPCA raid in March 2019. He had starved to death

A video played to the court showed Jimmy Price’s dogs, Scout and Tramp, untethered and unfed at the father-of-two’s home address in Forstal Farm, Loose.

Convicted animal abuser Jimmy Price from Maidstone, Kent, UK
Jimmy Price, who has previous convictions for violence and dishonesty, is a father of two

A voice in the video was heard to say: “If they run away good luck to them, I tell you what you’re the wickedest fella I’ve ever seen in my life.”

Jimmy Price, who has a history of violence, was previously convicted in December 2019 after repeatedly stabbing a deer. He was also caught hare coursing.

Still from the horrifying video in which Jimmy Price stabs a deer repeatedly while being goaded by three unknown accomplices

Rowan Morton, prosecuting for the RSPCA, said today: “It’s very difficult to even explain the gravity of what the video shows.

“There are a group of four males that can be seen with a deer. Jimmy Price is seen stabbing the deer multiple times in the throat while others shout at him to stab it.

“It’s very graphic and upsetting, there was no doubt that animal was caused significant pain and suffering.”

Convicted animal abuser Jimmy Price from Maidstone, Kent, UK, with partner Chanelle Treeby
Jimmy Price with partner Chanelle Treeby

Price, who was already serving a suspended sentence for theft offences, has previously been convicted of causing unnecessary suffering to dogs.

Persistent criminal Jimmy Price was found guilty of causing unnecessary suffering to two dogs and a horse
Persistent criminal Jimmy Price was found guilty of causing unnecessary suffering to two dogs and a horse

When Tramp and Scout were taken into the RSPCA’s care and fed properly, they gained 25% bodyweight and 45% bodyweight respectively within seven weeks.

Convicted animal abuser Jimmy Price from Maidstone, Kent, UK
Jimmy Price was previously convicted of hare coursing

Price’s dogs and the horse, which belonged to his late father, were seized during an RSPCA raid on Forstal Farm in March 2019.

Horse trader Samuel Powell had three horses seized during the same raid, having had a mare and her foal seized two months prior.

Convicted animal abuser Samuel Powell from Maidstone, Kent, UK
Samuel Powell

Four of the horses were found to be emaciated. One was suffering with diarrhoea and the foal had breathing problems, fleas and was described as “very thin”.

A Shetland Pony was found with a cut across the nose.

Animal abuser Jimmy Price from Maidstone, Kent, UK

Powell accepted each of the horses was his own, but said they were in that condition as he was rehabilitating them.

He told the court: “I will buy horses that have not been treated properly. When I get them I feed them, look after them and rehabilitate them. Then I sell them for profit.

“I like to think I sometimes save lives when I buy horses.”

When asked where he buys his horses, Powell said: “I don’t want to go into too much detail as I’m from the gypsy community.”

In 2019 Powell was convicted of causing unnecessary suffering to a foal which was seen walking up and down at Appleby Horse Fair pulling a cart with people in.

On Friday 10/01/2020 Powell was found guilty of four counts of causing unnecessary suffering to an animal and a fifth charge of failing to ensure the welfare of an animal. The five charges relate to the five horses seized from Forstal Farm.

Danny Price admitted causing unnecessary suffering to a bay horse. In return charges of causing suffering to a bay mare, a black mare and a piebald mare, were dropped.

Convicted animal abuser and qualified jockey Danny Price from Maidstone
Horse killer Daniel Price

The bay horse was found dead next to a hay bale during the RSPCA raid in March 2019. He had starved to death.

Magistrates heard the 29-year-old had stopped looking after the horse as he was in the process of selling it, and thought it was the new owner’s responsibility.

Sentencing:
Jimmy Price – jailed for seven and a half months of which half will be spent in custody. Ordered to pay £5,115 in costs and charges. Five-year order banning him from keeping dogs.

Samuel Powell – jailed for 26 weeks and will serve half of that sentence. Ordered to pay total of £5,115. Banned from owning horses for five years but can appeal after just one year.

Danny Price – 12-month community order; 150 hours of unpaid work; ordered to pay £1,585.

Kent Online

Equine Abuse, horse traders, horses and ponies, Traveller Animal Crimes

Chapel Allerton, Leeds: Robert Hunter

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CONVICTED (2019) | Robert Michael Hunter, born 30/10/1984, of Scott Hall Road, Chapel Allerton, Leeds LS7 – banned from keeping equines after his pony was found severely exhausted and dehydrated at Appleby Horse Fair

Horse trader Robert Hunter from Leeds allowed this pony to become very poorly while in attendance at Appleby Horse Fair.

RSPCA inspectors intervened after the cob gelding was seen breathing heavily and dripping with sweat on June 6 2018, and struggling badly again the following day.

Only after negotiation and police intervention did owner Robert Michael Hunter allow his animal to be examined by a vet.

She found the animal to be severely exhausted, dehydrated and with a dangerously raised heart rate.

The vet went on to say that without veterinary treatment the horse would have been at serious risk of collapse and, subsequently, death due to the severity of exhaustion seen.

The horse was treated and has since made a full recovery.

H orse trader Hunterwas prosecuted and initially denied three charges. But ahead of trial he admitted two counts of causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal both by overworking the pony and failing to provide him with routine dentistry for the previous six months.

He also admitted failing to ensure the horse’s worming and dentistry needs were met during a two-year period up to June 2018.

Hunter, a married father-of four and “experienced horseman”, said of the family pet: “I would never ever cause that horse any unnecessary suffering that I’d have known of”.

But, jailing him for 90 days, District Judge Gerald Chalk said: “Put simply, that horse had been severely overworked and was suffering from dehydration.

“That, in my view, is either deliberate ill treatment or neglect by you, and a high level of suffering was caused to that animal.”

Sentencing: jailed for 90 days. Banned from owning or keeping any equine animals for six years (expires March 2025).

Heart FM News
BBC News

Equine Abuse, horse traders, horses and ponies, Traveller Animal Crimes

Kendal, Cumbria: Lee Roberts

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CONVICTED (2017) | Lee Roberts, born 1 August 1985, of Grasmere Crescent, Kendal LA9 6LP – failed to seek treatment for a mare riddled with health issues

Lee Roberts

Roberts was found guilty of causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal after his piebald mare pony, Brenda, was found vastly underweight and suffering with worms and lice.

The RSPCA brought charges against Roberts following a tip off from a member of the public that his pony, whom he had bought for £200 at Appleby Horse Fair, had delivered an aborted foal in a field at Underbarrow.

RSPCA inspector William Lamping told the court that he had attended the farm at Greenridge Mill and found the pony in ‘very poor condition’.

“We had a report of a mare that had aborted a foal in a field and was looking quite bad,” he said.

He described Brenda as ‘unresponsive’ and in a poor condition with her hip bones, spine and ribs clearly visible and she had diarrhoea staining around her rear.

Starved and neglected pony Brenda

Mr Lamping said Roberts was unaware the pony was pregnant and there was no sign of the foetus at the farm.

Roberts told the court he later found the aborted foal at approximately 11pm that evening, covered by leaves and grass.

Veterinary expert Jane King was called to assess Brenda and given Roberts’ confrontational demeanour, the police were called so the animal could be formally seized and placed into the care of the RSPCA, the court heard.

Mrs King told the court of the results of an examination carried out on the horse.

She said that when placed on the scales on September 22, she weighed just 188.5kg against an ideal weight of around 300kg.

She added that Brenda was suffering with diarrhoea – a potentially life-threatening condition in an adult pony – had a severe lice problem, and passed a large amount of parasitic worms after being administered wormer.

It was her view that Brenda had aborted the foal because of her deteriorating condition which was caused by the worm and lice infestation and would have passed the foetus in no more than two days after it died.

In contrast to the expert’s testimony however, Roberts, who said he had owned horses for five years, suggested it could have been dead inside Brenda for the preceding two weeks, causing her to become ill.

Throughout the hearing, Roberts insisted he had not caused Brenda to suffer and that he had done his best for her.

“I believe the foal died naturally but stayed inside Brenda which made her ill,” he said.

“I’m good with my horses – they’ve all been fine up to now. I feel Brenda was just ill but it was not caused by me.”

The charge of causing unnecessary suffering, between June 19 and September 19, 2016, related to Roberts’ failure to administer adequate worm treatment – it was accepted he had given treatment but it had not worked.

Roberts also denied two charges of failing to meet the needs of the animal that a responsible owner would be expected to do in the two weeks before RSPCA intervened.

These concerned the lack of investigation and response to Brenda’s weight loss and the lack of treatment to the lice problem.

Returning guilty verdicts to all charges, chairman of the bench Gary Ormondroyd said: “You may have attempted to protect Brenda from disease but this was ineffective.

“You should have sought professional veterinary advice, especially given the severity of the illness.

“You were complacent and misguided in your own capability to deal with sick animals.

“We are satisfied Brenda was suffering and in pain and it was caused by your failure to treat her.”

A deprivation order was made placing Brenda in the custody of the RSPCA, but magistrates declined to ban Roberts from owning animals. He was fined £1,350 and ordered to pay £1,000 costs and a £45 victim surcharge.

Westmorland Gazette