143 horses - 32 dead
Hyde Heath, EN (UK)Incident Date: Tuesday, Jan 1, 2008
Disposition: Convicted
Case Images: 1 files available
Defendants/Suspects:
» James Gray
» James Gray, Jr.
» Julie Gray
» Jodie Gray
» Cordelia Gray
Case Updates: 3 update(s) available
A total of 111 surviving horses, ponies and donkeys have been moved off premises believed to be a horse-trading business where 32 animals were found dead.
Rescuers from the RSPCA and police had discovered "dead horses everywhere" as well as emaciated survivors, many covered in excrement, mud, scrapes and cuts at Spindles farm, at Hyde Heath, near Amersham, Buckinghamshire. Three more had to be shot because of their condition.
Fourteen survivors thought to be in the worst state were moved to the Horse Trust's sanctuary at Speen in Buckinghamshire.
James Gray, 44, has been charged with causing criminal damage and assaulting a police officer. He was arrested when the investigation started after a tip-off.
The International League for the Protection of Horses, which was caring for 11 of the animals last night, said the animals were hungry and scared. A spokeswoman added: "They are all putting their heads down and won't stop feeding."
All the animals are officially in police custody but under the overall care of the RSPCA. Welfare organisations can only provide new homes for animals, subject to investigations, if owners hand them over or a court transfers ownership.
Case UpdatesJames Gray, 45, and four other members of his family were banned from keeping horses, ponies and donkeys following the neglect, which was described by vets as the "the worst case of animal cruelty" they had ever seen.
The Gray family were sentenced at Aylesbury Magistrates' Court in Buckinghamshire for causing distress to the animals at Spindle Farm in Amersham.
Vets found horses with little bedding and crammed into pens ankle-deep in their own faeces.
Hooves and body parts were discovered scattered across the site, along with a mound made up of bones and skulls.
Gray and his son, James Gray Junior, were convicted at an earlier trial of 11 charges each under the Animal Welfare Act 2006.
Gray Senior, a horse trader, was ordered to pay costs of £400,000 to cover the expenses of the investigation by the RSPCA and the trial which was held Bicester Magistrates' Court.
His wife, Julie Gray, 42, and daughters, Cordelia, 21, and Jodie, 26, were also convicted of two charges under the Act.
Gray Junior, 16, was banned from keeping equines for 10 years and was given an 18-month supervision order.
Julie Gray was given a 150-hour community service order and told to pay costs of £750.
The two daughters were given the same 150-hour order and ordered to pay £500 costs each.
No member of the family showed any sign of emotion as the judge passed sentence.
District Judge Andrew Vickers told Gray Senior, a traveller: "I know that you have a strong background with horses, equines, and are familiar with their behaviour and therefore it is all the more sad that you stand convicted of offences that your father and grandfather would have been ashamed of."
Addressing the female members of the family, Judge Vickers said: "You were all aware that animals, equines at Spindle Farm, were not being well cared for."
Addressing Gray Junior, the judge said: "There will need to be considerable work done to reflect your traveller culture and history and the way of life your family will follow.
"There are specific examples in which you were found being cruel certainly to one animal.
"The court is aware you were heavily involved with your father in horse trading."
RSPCA chief inspector Rob Skinner said he came across 32 carcases when he went to look around in January last year.
Some of these had been burned and dumped on a bonfire, while others were simply left lying on the ground, covered in rubbish.
During the trial in Bicester last month, the court heard that one dead horse was found on the back of a trailer with ropes tied around its tail.
RSPCA inspector Kirsty Hampton, who visited the farm in the early stages of the investigation, described the suffering she witnessed as "distressing beyond measure".
"What we were confronted with on arrival at the farm was grotesque," she after the trial.
"To see animals in such awful condition was overwhelming and those that had survived were shown little care or consideration.
"Many horses and ponies had just been left to starve and the smell of rotting flesh was overpowering.
"It is the worst case of animal cruelty I have ever seen."
The court heard that, of the 140 animals on the farm, many were left starving with little food.
In total 115 horses, some severely emaciated, had to be rescued and removed from the site.
Inspectors returned to the farm over several days to discover more bodies.
Other living animals had to be put to sleep on the spot because of the condition they were in.
On one occasion, vets discovered a pile of seven horse skulls next to a gate and on another day they removed 97 horses from the property.
During the operation, vets said Gray Senior became aggressive towards them, shouting abusively.
Today Judge Vickers told Gray Senior that his 11 cruelty offences were of the highest level he had seen put before a Magistrates' Court.
"There was repeated evidence of your failure to obtain repeated veterinary treatment for equines that were suffering from illness or disease.
"I cannot accept that the economics of your trade can require you not to intervene or provide appropriate care."
The rescue at Spindle Farm resulted in one of the most expensive operations in history for the RSPCA.
Animal rights protesters clapped and cheered as Gray was led from the dock.
He and his family have launched an appeal against their convictions.
The charity has spent more than £850,000 looking after 70 of the neglected animals and said the total operation had cost around £1.6 million. | Source: Telegraph.co.uk - June 12, 2009
Update posted on Jun 12, 2009 - 3:24PM |
Five members of one family were found guilty of "grotesque" cruelty yesterday after one of Britain's largest horse-rescue operations. RSPCA inspectors who raided Spindle Farm in Buckinghamshire last year found a "horror scene" of starving, emaciated and diseased animals, surrounded by the rotting corpses of others.
In total, 115 horses, ponies and donkeys were rescued and 32 others were found dead in varying states of decay.
Yesterday, trader James Gray, 45, and his son James Junior, 16, were found guilty of 11 charges under the Animal Welfare Act 2006. His wife Julie, 41, and daughters Jodie, 26, and Cordelia, 20, were each convicted of two charges under the same Act.
Nicolas De Brauwere, the head of welfare at Redwings, one of the horse sanctuaries called in to help, said: "I feel the evidence of cruelty and the extent of equine suffering in this case was so overwhelming that a guilty verdict was the only possible outcome so I am delighted with today's result. "I have no doubt that what myself and my colleagues saw that day will remain with us for the rest of our lives."
During a 51-day trial, Bicester magistrates' court in Oxfordshire heard that the RSPCA inspectors called at the farm in Amersham in January last year to find what some of them described as the worst case of animal cruelty they had ever seen.
Horses were crammed into overcrowded pens, ankle-deep in their own manure. Some of the 140 animals were so emaciated and disease-ridden that they had to be put down.
Hooves and body parts were discovered scattered across the farm, along with a mound made up of bones and skulls. As many as 32 carcasses were found. Some had been burnt on a bonfire and others were covered with rubbish. The court was told that Gray, shouted abuse at officers during the the inspection. He told the trial it was common for horses to "drop down dead" without warning, and the corpses were "family pets" waiting to be buried.
RSPCA inspector Kirsty Hampton said: "This case was distressing beyond measure. What we were confronted with on arrival at the farm was grotesque. To see animals in such awful condition was overwhelming and those that had survived were shown little care or consideration. Many horses and ponies had just been left to starve, and the smell of rotting flesh was overpowering."
As he delivered the guilty verdicts, District Judge Andrew Vickers reminded the defendants that all family members -- who denied the charges -- shared responsibility for the neglect. The father and son were found guilty on all 11 counts of causing unnecessary suffering. The three women were convicted of two charges of failing to protect animals from pain, injury, suffering and disease but acquitted of the nine cruelty charges.
Gray, who has a previous conviction for causing unnecessary suffering to a horse in October 2006, will be sentenced along with the other members of his family on 12 June.
After the verdicts, a spokesman for the RSPCA said: "Our inspectors will never forget the scene that greeted them at Spindle Farm last year and we are glad that justice has been done. This verdict sends a clear message out about animal welfare."
Paul Jepson, chief executive and resident veterinary surgeon of the Horse Trust, which was among the charities to take in some of the sick animals, said: "Many of the animals have made a spectacular recovery and it has been a joy to watch them bucking and playing in the fields." | Source: The Independent - May 9, 2009
Update posted on May 8, 2009 - 10:35PM |
The RSPCA says it is "devastated and sickened" that 11 donkeys and 18 Shetland ponies could be returned to Spindle Farm owner Jamie Gray.
On 4 January, 31 equines were found dead at Spindle Farm in Amersham, and 111 other horses, ponies and donkeys were rescued in one of the biggest horse welfare cases on record in the UK.
James John Gray, Julie Gray, Cordelia Gray and Jodie Gray, of Spindle Farm, Hyde Heath, Amersham made an application to Oxford Magistrates Court on Friday, 4 April, to have the equines returned to them.
At the hearing, Deputy District Judge Sandeep Kainth allowed the 29 Shetlands and donkeys to go back to Spindle Farm saying "there is no evidence to show they are in any danger".
But he ordered the remaining horses to be sold at auction at Henley-in-Arden, Warwickshire in May.
This morning, the RSPCA said it is looking at "all available legal avenues" to challenge the court's decision.
RSPCA deputy head of press Becky Hawkes told H&H: "We are sickened by the decision, and will continue to do everything we can to safeguard the welfare of the equines involved."
She added: "We are looking into all legal avenues in order to challenge the court's decision - even though there is no mechanism to appeal this decision under the Animal Welfare Act."
In court on Friday James John Gray, Julie Gray, Cordelia Gray, Jodie Gray and a juvenile pleaded not guilty to 12 charges related to section 4 and section 9 of the Animal Welfare Act 2006 - which cover causing unnecessary suffering to and failing to meet the needs of a total of 125 equines.
The pre-trial review for this case has been scheduled for 28 April 2008, and will also be heard at Oxford Magistrates Court. | Source: Horse & Hound - April 7, 2008
Update posted on Apr 8, 2008 - 3:33PM |
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