Sheep deaths farmer wins appeal

A farmer jailed by magistrates for leaving more than 80 sheep to drown in flooded fields has been released by an appeal judge.

Firefighters, police and RSPCA officers were repeatedly called out to rescue sheep, up to their necks in floodwater along the River Tame in Staffordshire, Stafford crown court heard. The animals were in the care of farmer Anthony Russell, but he failed to heed the flood warnings and turned up too late to save some of the livestock.

The 54-year-old, of Spinney Farm Bungalow, Lower Stonnall, was jailed for four months by Tamworth magistrates after pleading guilty to six offences relating to animal cruelty.

But in an appeal to the crown court, Judge John Maxwell cut the sentence to two months – and suspended it for a year.

The judge said the magistrates were wrong to put Russell's offences in with the most serious cases of deliberate cruelty, baiting or cockfighting.

"We feel this case falls in to the second category – medium term neglect.

"The seriousness of this case is obvious – a number of sheep drowned and many, many others were affected. You were under a duty to take precautions and those you took were inadequate. In view of the fact this covers a series of incidents, we think it does cross the custody threshold," he added.

While suspending the sentence, the judge also lifted a lifetime ban on Russell transporting animals, but endorsed the magistrates' decision to ban the appellant from keeping or dealing in livestock. In addition, Russell was ordered to do 100 hours unpaid community work and to pay £4,500 costs.

Mr Nicholas Cole, prosecuting for Staffordshire County Council, told the court that Russell ran a commercial business looking after sheep in the winter on behalf of other farmers, usually in Wales. He kept the animals, as many as 15-20,000 on fields in various parts of the country, but mainly Staffordshire.

In 2008 there were a number of incidents of the livestock being caught in floods. A witness to one incident described it as "sickening". An RSCPA officer described another incident as "one of the most upsetting scenes he had witnessed." Mr Cole said Russell had failed to heed the warnings from the flood incidents, as a result of which a total of 87 sheep had drowned.

Mr Eugene Hickey, for the appellant, said Russell was responsible for huge numbers of sheep and accepted the buck stopped with him. "His culpability is not having the mechanics in place to move quickly enough. He relies on those he's delegated to and to reliable information from the Environment Agency.

"On one occasion, Russell was told the river would rise an inch or two – it rose five feet. I am not blaming the Environment Agency, who have a difficult job. Last year was a particularly bad one for rainfall." said Mr Hickey. Mr Hickey said Russell lost money for every sheep that died and there was no payout from insurance companies.