A horse dealer and former police officer has lost his appeal against a conviction for welfare and passport offences.
In March Peter Kenneth Jones, of Plas Power Stables, Bersham near Wrexham was convicted on nine counts during a three-day trial at Mold Crown Court.
He was found guilty of failing to treat a gelding which was suffering with strangles and had a jaw abscess and severely overgrown hooves.
He was also found guilty of causing suffering to a mare that had open and infected wounds on her fetlock, and a passport offence.
But a judgement was made last Thursday (10 November). His failed appeal will now cost him an additional £5,344 on top of the £6,000 in costs and fines paid at his conviction.
According to Graham Capper of Wrexham Trading Standards the case has important implications for how owners are expected to handle strangles.
“The appeal failed in part because we were able to prove that Mr Jones could have prevented his horse from enduring unnecessary suffering if he had brought in a vet to assess and treat the horse,” he said.
“Mr Jones had testified that veterinary help was not necessarily required for strangles, but Mark Andrews of the Wrexham Veterinary Centre explained very effectively that a simple course of anti-inflammatories would have reduced suffering.
“The message from this judgement is that owners have a responsibility to monitor their horses for strangles, call in a vet if symptoms arise and provide treatment. If suffering can be alleviated by getting a vet in, it should be done.”
Mr Jones had sold two horses with the wrong passports, bought a horse without a passport and failed to notify the passport issuing body within 30 days of a buying a horse.
