Bridgnorth pair who neglected horses have animal ban softened after winning court appeal

Gary Hart, 64, and Victoria Hart, 35, both of Six Ashes in Bridgnorth, were banned for life from keeping any animals after being convicted of a string of neglect charges against horses at Kidderminster Magistrates Court on November 28 last year.

Steven Morgan, 52 of Foxdale Drive in Brierley Hill, who also received a lifetime ban from keeping animals, also appealed his sentence.

All three were convicted of six offences relating to the neglect of, and causing unnecessary suffering to, horses at their stables in Bridgnorth.

Morgan and Victoria Hart were found guilty of four counts of causing unnecessary suffering to a skewbald filly, an Appaloosa mare and a Palomino, and two counts relating to the conditions of 36 horses kept at Six Ashes.

Gary Hart was also found guilty of four offences of causing unnecessary suffering to the filly, the mare and the Palomino, and two related to the conditions of three horses in total. He and Steven Morgan were jailed for 26 weeks each, serving half on licence, and banned from keeping animals for life.

A fourth man, Mark Walklate, 50, who pleaded guilty to four offences under the Animal Welfare Act in the same case, was handed a prison sentence of 14 weeks, suspended for 18 months.

In a previous hearing earlier this year, the court heard that the RSPCA was called to Six Ashes in Bridgnorth on January 27, 2021 after receiving a call from police about concerns for horses kept there.

Officers from the charity attended alongside local horse veterinarians, and the vets found three horses they deemed to be suffering. One of the horses, a mare, was found to be so badly lame it had to be euthanised.

However, Worcestershire Crown Court was told on Friday in an appeal, that the lifetime ban imposed by the court, which prohibited Morgan and both the Harts from keeping any animals whatsoever, was "excessive".

Miss Danae Larham, representing both the Harts, said: "In relation to the breadth of the ban for both defendants... the blanket ban on all animals is somewhat excessive and unnecessary. This case dealt with one particular type of animal, namely equines."

She added: "It is right in the course of the inspection [in 2021] that it was noted several dogs were present. They were inspected by RSPCA. They thoroughly investigated the property. There was more than one representative there and vets were in attendance. Should there have been any issue or concern with those animals there is no doubt the RSPCA would have taken action."

Representing Morgan, Miss Laura Rowe told the court her client's appeal was was for similar reasons.

She said: "The order should only apply to equines. Mr Morgan worked with animals for a number of years before the prosecution was brought.

"It is clear these dogs were looked at. Both dogs they saw were in kennels, they had bed, water and straw on the floor and area reasonably clean."

However Miss Sara Pratt, for the prosecution, told the court that there were 30 dogs on the premises when the RSPCA visited in January 2021 and that the animals, which are now in the possession of Victoria Hart's niece, had been bred as a "commercial venture".

She said: "In terms of the dogs, that was also a commercial venture in the same way horses were used as a commercial money-making venture.

"I invite the court to take an inference in how the horses were kept. The defendants indicated they were experienced horsemen and horsewomen and knew how to look after horses. That resulted in a wholesale disregard to animals that were in effect a commodity for making money."

She added: "It is not simply in this case it is a desire to keep one or two, to keep family pets, but in this case it was accepted there was dog breeding. It appears to have been a commercial enterprise as the horses were - similar amount of horses."

She also reminded the court that both Gary and Victoria Hart had been convicted in 2018 in relation to the neglect of a horse.

Meanwhile, Morgan had been banned from keeping dogs for ten years in 2015 following a prosecution for neglect, for which he was jailed for four months.

Judge Seanin Gilmore told the court that the purpose of the ban was not "not a punitive order" but one to protect animals, but , she conceded in the original trial, no evidence was presented to suggest animals other than horses were mistreated.

She said: "It is safe to say the levels of neglect and poor management was simply staggering. In my view, the defendants were jointly responsible for numerous and highly serious failings. The horses were not given even the most basic of care but left to fester in muddy fields or crowded stables. The defendants acknowledge this and that a disqualification of horses was inevitable.

"It would a permissible for this court to draw inference that the neglect of horses may mean they may treat any animal in the same way," she said.

But the judge added: "However, I have seen a witness statement from an RSPCA inspection of the premises in relation to dogs. There were found to be about 30 dogs in premises in various locations. And I understand the defendants engaged in a comercial breeding enterprise.

"While the inspector paints a rather chaotic scene, for the most part the dogs' basic needs were appearing to be met."

She added: "These two individuals are clearly more capable of looking after dogs more than horses."

She decreed that in the case of the Harts, the order disqualifying them from keeping any animals should be reworded to "horses, donkeys and ponies" only.

However, the judge said as Morgan had previously been disqualified from keeping dogs, the order banning him from owning any animals for life would remain in place.