Father and son behind bars after cruelty to animals

Father and son behind bars after cruelty to animals

25 February 2015

A SAINTFIELD father and son have been jailed for four months for one of the worst cases of animal cruelty ever seen in the United Kingdom.

Starving and dying cattle were discovered on the Ballycloughan Road farm belonging to 80 year-old Stanley Porter and his 44 year-old son, also called Stanley Porter, after an anonymous tip–off to animal welfare officers in 2013.

Officers reported distressing scenes of emaciated, toothless and balding cattle wading through knee-deep slurry when they visited the farm. Some animals were close to death, while carcasses were also found.

The men, who were banned from owning animals for 10 years when they admitted a string of animal welfare charges at the end of January, were jailed at Downpatrick Court on Monday.

At their sentencing it was revealed that 75 of the men’s cattle had to be slaughtered in the past few weeks after being deemed too underweight to be re–homed. Just 55 of their herd could be saved.

Animal welfare officer, Mr. Oliver McWilliams, told Downpatrick Court on Monday that the Saintfield case stood out from any other case of animal suffering on which he had worked.

Describing the animals’ suffering as “horrendous”, he said the Porters made life “very difficult” for his colleagues with police required to keep the peace due to the nastiness of the defendants.

“Northern Ireland farmers have a good record in terms of animal welfare. This type of case is very uncommon,” he said.

“The Porters had a very poor attitude to the whole thing.”

Over the course of the investigation, which began in February 2013, inspectors reported that cattle, including calves, had no dry place to lie and had balding and scaly skin from lying in soggy beds.

They also noted that the animals drank thirstily from a bucket of water offered to them on one visit due to the fact they did not have access to a  proper water supply.

Defence barrister Miss Lauren 

Cheshire claimed the Porter pair had been neglectful rather than deliberately cruel. 

She said farming was the only life known to both men, who she described as leading “isolated and insular lives.”

These lives, she pointed out, had unravelled since the death of their wife and mother in 2006 when they stopped looking after themselves with the situation worsening in 2012 when, following a break-in at their home, they “gave up.” 

She said this deterioration happened against the back of an “extremely contentious and bitter family dispute over land.”

She said farming was their only link to the outside world. 

“The situation seems to have got on top of these men, rather than any wilful harm to animals,” she said.

“They have lost their animals and livelihoods.

“Not all the cattle on the farm were in bad condition. It is accepted that quite a few were, but it was not a global issue.”

However, District Judge Greg McCourt described the offences as “very serious” and said the case was aggravated by the father and son’s refusal to co-operate and take action about the condition of their herd.

Pointing out that the death rate of cattle on the Saintfield farm was almost five times the average, he said the Porters nonetheless continued to downplay their neglect. 

Mr McCourt said Porter senior had insisted the cattle were healthy despite their thinness and should not therefore have been destroyed, while Porter junior blamed the bad weather on the animals’ poor condition.

“They were in absolutely horrific conditions, cattle were moving in slurry and mud up to their knees,” said Mr McCourt.

“Department officials had visited your farm on many occasions and had concern. They gave you advice and warnings but you chose to ignore them.

“This is one of the worst cases of cruelty in Northern Ireland or anywhere in these islands.”

Mr McCourt fined the men £1,250 for 10 charges each including causing unnecessary suffering to animals, failing to dispose properly of carcases, failing to produce vet medicine records and not meeting the animals’ needs.

Following Monday’s hearing, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development’s senior principal veterinary officer, Mr Michael Hatch, said the Porter’s case had been distressing for those involved, particularly due to the large number of cattle that had to be humanely destroyed.

“Today’s sentence sends out a clear message that those who neglect animals will be pursued by DARD and punished accordingly,” he said.

“Fortunately these cases in Northern Ireland are rare. The vast majority of farmers take very good care of their animals and do not merit a criminal investigation.

“This is an unusual case in the severity of animal suffering.”