CONVICTED (2016) | Charles Smith, born November 1972, of Bigfield Lodge travellers site, Warrington Road, Runcorn WA7 1RD – neglected five horses, with two having to be put down. RSPCA inspectors who visited Charles Smith’s stables on Chester Road Daresbury, Warrington WA4 4AL on more than a dozen occasions found that the recycling and skip hire company owner often failed to provide horses on the land with food and water and left them in a field with barbed wire in it. Officers concerned about the welfare of horses at Ponderosa Stables visited the property a total of 14 times between July and October 2015. They found as many as eight horses, including one that was heavily pregnant, on the land and on occasions discovered that no food or water had been provided to them. Animals were described as looking underweight and lethargic, while on one occasion a worried member of the public had taken the step of putting hay on Smith’s land for the horses. Horses were found to be eating ragwort, which could cause them chronic liver damage, during several visits due to the lack of food provided. The environment the animals were living in was also described as poor, with the field containing barbed and broken wood while concerns were raised about a hole in a hedge that could have led to the horses escaping onto the road. Smith, who owns Runcorn Recycling Scrap Metal Limited, shouted at officers and claimed that there was nothing wrong with the animals. Two emaciated mares were described a having ‘suffered unnecessarily’ due to an ‘inadequate’ food supply. Both were later put down, with one having behavioural problems and the other suffering from persistent swelling of the legs. Smith admitted one count of causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal and another charge of not fulfilling duties as a person responsible for the welfare of animals. Sentence: 300 hours of unpaid work; fines of £1,240.80. Banned from keeping animals for a five years (expired 2021). Runcorn and Widnes World Warrington Guardian