CONVICTED (2021) | Michael Andrew Hawkswell, born c. 1975, of Haldgarth, Nunwick, Ripon HG4 5EE – a serial animal abuser with a string of convictions for offences including barbaric illegal slaughter.
Hawkswell’s first known conviction was in or around 2001 when he abandoned a lorry-load of live turkeys on the A1, leaving them to freeze to death. For this offence he was apparently jailed but no details are available.
Two years later, in February 2003, Hawkswell was jailed alongside another man, Isap Lakha of 122 Saville Road, Dewsbury WF12 9LP after the pair were found to be running an illegal slaughter operation at the height of the foot and mouth crisis.
An undercover investigator from the Hillside Animal Sanctuary in East Anglia began investigating the men after a tip-off. Working in conjunction with the RSPCA, the charity obtained secret video footage showing Hawkswell and Lakha killing 10 goats with a blunt knife in a dirty barn in Londonderry, North Yorkshire, causing the animals immense pain and suffering.
RSPCA prosecutor Tony Kelbrick told the court that the video showed the goats were dismembered and butchered “while they appeared to be still alive”.
He said the animals were being killed in the Halal way but the method used was “inept, clumsy and cruel and caused considerable pain and suffering”.
“It can clearly be seen on the video that a number of cuts were required to sever the arteries and veins and a sawing motion was required as opposed to a clean cut.”
The court heard how the goats were bought at a market in Haswell, Durham, before they were taken to North Yorkshire for slaughter on 14 January 2002.
The hearing was also told how Lakha bought the animal carcasses for about £200 after the slaughter.
He said the meat was to help feed his large extended family which included about 150 people.
However, a 2002 article by now defunct newspaper the Sunday People had already exposed Hawkswell as a “crooked trader” who sold “infected meat to scores of curry shops”. Aside from risking an outbreak of foot and mouth disease and BSE (the human form of mad cow disease), the newspaper described how he made “animals suffer shockingly by letting buyers try their hand at slaughtering in his makeshift abattoir”.
In court, Hawkswell admitted allowing goats he owned to be cruelly ill-treated and also allowing premises to be used as a slaughterhouse without a licence.
His co-defendant, Lakha – a retired slaughterman with 20 years’ experience – pleaded guilty to cruelly ill-treating 10 goats and slaughtering the animals without a licence.
District judge Roy Anderson said the offences were so serious he had no option but to jail the men.
He told the pair the botched operation was “inept, callous, squalid and cruel”.
Hawkswell received a four-month prison sentence while Lakha was jailed for two months. Both were banned from keeping animals for 10 years (ban expired 2013).
Writing about their investigation, Hillside Sanctuary told how Michael Hawkswell had boasted to their covert investigator how he could supply cows, lambs, goats, deer, pigeons and even peacocks. He gloated that most of the animals were stolen from farms late at night.
Hawkswell had also bragged about breeding cockerels for fighting.
Happily, Hillside were able to rescue five nanny goats (pictured) from a horrible death and took them into the care of the sanctuary.
In 2010 Hawkswell was banned from keeping animals for ten years and jailed for six months after livestock was found in squalid conditions. No further details of this conviction are available.
In December 2013 Hawkswell was back in court after repeatedly breaching his animal banning order.
The court heard how trading standards officers visited premises in Thorpe Underwood, between York and Boroughbridge and discovered that Hawkswell had been moving sheep.
Paperwork found in a stolen trailer revealed he had been to a slaughterhouse in Spennymoor.
Hawkswell admitted handling stolen goods and breaching an animal banning order, and was given a suspended prison sentence.
Judge Les Spittle described his actions as “a blatant disregard” for court orders, and also ordered him to carry out 100 hours of unpaid work for the community.
Stuart Young, mitigating, said his client had “struggled to do what the courts tell him” adding that he had “shown poor problem-solving techniques.”
In February 2017 Hawkswell was jailed for six months after breaching a court order to protect animals from him. His latest conviction came after his vehicle was stopped by North Yorkshire Police and found to contain cardboard boxes holding 14 live chickens and a duck. A few months later Hawkswell was stopped again by road traffic police and this time officers found a sheep, two hens, two pigeons and four dead turkeys.
On both occasions Hawkswell was arrested and subsequently charged.
Sergeant Kevin Kelly, from North Yorkshire Police’s Rural Taskforce, said that Hawkswell was “a danger to animals”.
In May 2021 Hawkswell, still disqualified from keeping or owning animals, was charged with possessing 76 birds and a string of other offences.
They included buying and transporting two goats, possessing seven sheep in his trailer, possessing a duck, unloading poultry from a vehicle into sale pens at Highgate auctions in Rotherham and buying and selling poultry.
In September 2021 Hawkswell was jailed for a total of 32 weeks after pleading guilty to all charges.
The court also disqualified Hawkswell from owning or keeping goats, poultry, birds and sheep for a period of 10 years under the Animal Welfare Act.
Hawkswell was also disqualified from holding or obtaining a driving licence for 16 months.
Speaking after the sentencing, PC Mark Atkinson, of North Yorkshire Police’s rural task force, said:
“Michael Hawkswell knew full well that he wasn’t allowed to have anything to do with animals – with a court order in place to protect them from suffering at his hands.
“However, he has repeatedly shown a blatant disregard for that court order, and persistently breached it on a number of occasions.
“Members of the farming community were aware of Hawkswell’s illegal activity, and came forward with crucial information, allowing us to arrest him and put him before the court. I would like to thank everyone who has spoken to the police in relation to Hawkswell’s activities – your assistance has been so vital and helped our team to put the strongest case together.”
North Yorkshire Police said it would now distribute posters highlighting Hawkswell’s banning order at livestock marts and other rural businesses.
Sentencing (September 2021 conviction): 32 weeks in jail. Disqualified from having anything to do with poultry, goats, sheep or birds for ten years (expires September 2031).
