CONVICTED (2019) | Paul G Robinson, born c. 1969, of Hill Farm, Harby Lane, Plungar, Nottingham NG13 0JH – for the severe neglect of pigs, cattle and sheep.
Robinson was visited by Trading Standards officers after a member of the public contacted them about the conditions his animals were being kept in.
When they arrived at Hill Farm, they found pigs were living in darkness and one ewe was not getting enough food to produce milk for her undernourished lamb.
Officers from the RSPCA attended the same day and they immediately took all 27 cattle and 46 pigs from the 20-acre farm for welfare reasons.
The sheep, goats, chickens and other animals were left on the farm.
Robinson pleaded guilty to 16 charges relating to the cattle, pigs and sheep.
But magistrates agreed to a ban that only included pigs and cattle.
While some of the offences he admitted were for causing suffering to his livestock, others related to failures to properly tag animals, notify the government about animal purchases and deaths and following codes of practice.
Adam Clemens, prosecuting on behalf of Leicestershire County Council Trading Standards, said: “The cattle and pigs had insufficient feed and the sheep had for the most part no feed.
“A third of the pens had no water and cattle were thin.”
He said pig carcasses were seen lying among the pigs while sheep carcasses had been burned.
Six further visits were made to the farm by the Trading Standards officers.
When Robinson was interviewed by Trading Standards the answers he gave were “cause for concern”, Mr Clemens said.
He said Robinson had never read any codes of practice farmers should follow, and did not think animals needed access to food and water at all times.
When asked about the burned lamb carcasses, Robinson said he believed his dogs had dragged the dead animals onto a bonfire, although he later pleaded guilty to burning four lamb carcasses.
Robinson told the interviewers he cleaned the animal sheds out every three to six months and saw no problem with the way the animals were being kept.
Mr Clemens said there had been many other concerns about the farm in recent years.
There was not a single year between 2012 and 2017 Trading Standards did not visit the farm and Mr Clemens said had no information about years prior to 2012 because the records were not available.
Kim Lee, representing Robinson, said his client had always been “less than a junior partner” to his father who “would rule the farm with a rod of iron”.
He said his client had been “overwhelmed” since his father’s death a year ago and was also struggling to look after his mother, who suffers from dementia.
Meanwhile, the farm was making a loss of about £3,000 per year, he said.
Mr Lee said: “This is a man who recognises the error of his ways and has taken steps to address the errors of the past.
“His financial situation is precarious. It’s no life. There’s no profit.”
Mr Lee asked the magistrates not to ban Robinson from keeping all animals so that he could continue as a farmer.
He said: “It’s all he’s known – man and boy.”
He said his client would not mind being banned from keeping pigs and cattle and would reduce the number of sheep on his farm from 81 to no more than 50.
Sentencing: six-month jail sentence suspended for two years; ordered to pay total of £2,115 costs and charges. Lifetime ban on keeping pigs and cattle.
Leicester Mercury
