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CONVICTED: Was justice served?
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Case #14097 Rating: 3.0 out of 5
Hoarding - horses seized
Llangollen, WA (UK)Incident Date: Monday, Dec 3, 2007
Disposition: Convicted
Case Images: 1 files available
Defendant/Suspect: Margaret O'Leary
A 72-year-old widow was yesterday jailed for eight weeks after an horrific horse cruelty case. Margaret O'Leary – described as a horse hoarder whose whole life had been involved with horses – was also banned from keeping horses for two years.
District Judge Andrew Shaw said O'Leary had failed to co-operate with the RSPCA and trading standards officials had "spirited away" some of the horses in her care when the probe started.
Flintshire magistrates' court at Mold heard one horse was found dead and others emaciated and "massively infested" with parasites.
Inspectors seized 45 horses from litter-strewn land at Penycae, near Wrexham, where she had let one foal become so emaciated and weak it intermittently collapsed.
A chestnut mare was so thin its ribs were showing, a Shetland pony had an open face wound leaking pus, and another animal was riddled with parasites and had liver disease.
One horse was found dead with barbed wire around its legs when RSPCA and trading standards inspectors visited in December.
A vet said several other horses would have died without intervention.
O'Leary admitted eight charges of causing unnecessary suffering to eight animals, two of failing to ensure horses' needs by keeping them in a hazardous environment, and one of intentionally obstructing officers.
The horse racing enthusiast, of Abbey Road, Llangollen, who kept 81 horses at two sites near Wrexham, was handcuffed and led away to the cells.
There were angry scenes as family and supporters were ushered out. Abuse was hurled at RSPCA officials.
The case had cost £107,000, since the last hearing there had been an additional £10,000 bill, and there were on-going costs of keeping the animals, said Jonathon Austin, prosecuting.
Judge Shaw made an order depriving her from ownership of any of the seized horses, in addition to the order banning her from keeping horses. She still has more than 20 horses on her land.
Her omissions caused the suffering between November and January.
The judge said most of the neglect had since been resolved.
"You chose to accept a very large number of horses without having the ability to care for them," he said.
Euros Jones, defending, said O'Leary loved horses. They were her life and that of her family.
The horses are being kept by the RSPCA in Shropshire, and at the charity World Horse Welfare in Blackpool, and can be sold to defray some of the costs. References
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