Woman's life ban on keeping animals

29 April 2006 07:00

A woman who kept more than 300 animals in "chaos", allowing many of them to suffer, was yesterday banned from keeping animals for life - except for a few dogs described as "her family".

Elizabeth King was sentenced for a string of cruelty offences by Cromer magistrates who heard she and her friend Beryl Barker kept the dogs, cats, rabbits and guinea pigs in often appalling conditions.

King was also sentenced for running a pet shop without a licence in the centre of Cromer.

Magistrates heard a baffling array of cages, hutches, pens and aviaries was found by RSPCA staff during a June raid on Water Tower Farm in Trimingham, home to King and Barker.

Both defendants previously admitted six charges each of causing unnecessary suffering to a sample of 21 animals. Barker was sentenced in February, but King's sentence was held over until yesterday because the unlicensed pet shop charge had to be resolved in a trial at the end of March.

Prosecutor Jonathan Eales said animals were found with cat flu, their eyes sealed with puss, with dental disease, discharge from their noses and eyes and other illnesses. A video shown to the court showed many of the animals were kept in cages with soiled bedding, with no water or dirty water and, said Mr Eales, "living in their own excreta".

However Mr Eales said King had not only co-operated with the RSPCA, but had never been guilty of "wanton, deliberate or malicious cruelty".

Ann-Marie Gregory, defending King, said both women had been unable to cope and "overwhelmed" with the number of animals in their care.

"If the numbers are kept low, these ladies have a great deal of experience. The RSPCA is supporting the fact they should not be deprived of all animals. If you restrict the numbers they are fine. These animals are her family."

Both the prosecution and defence said they wished to support the idea of allowing King to keep the six dogs she has, while being banned from keeping any other animals.

Magistrates told King she could keep the six dogs, but when they died she would be allowed a maximum of two dogs. Other than these animals, she would be banned from keeping animals for life.

She was banned from running a pet shop for 10 years.

They said King's previous convictions for animal cruelty in 1992 and 1993 were being treated as "spent" because of their age.

King was also sentenced to a total of 200 hours of community work and told to pay £140 compensation to the RSPCA. This figure was only a fraction of what the RSPCA had asked for because of the difficulty King would have paying, including the fact she had recently been made bankrupt.

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