Owner of farm branded ‘total animal welfare disaster’ is jailed

The owner of a ‘hell farm’ where dozens of animals died in squalor has been jailed.

Susan Smith, 61, oversaw what a vet described as a ‘total animal welfare disaster’ at Ingst Manor Farm in Olveston, South Gloucestershire.

RSPCA investigators who visited the farm in March 2015 found livestock riddled with parasites and other animals starved to death having been left no food or water, Bristol Crown Court heard.

Surviving animals lived alongside the dead or dying and some were seen to be eating the carcasses.

Smith was eventually convicted of 27 charges involving cruelty, neglect and failing to dispose of animal carcasses and jailed for 18 months.

Judge Euan Ambrose also banned her from keeping animals for life.

She was originally found guilty of 37 offences before 10 were quashed on appeal.

South Gloucestershire Council and the RSPCA are now seeking £50,806.61 and £389,911.33 in costs respectively and those applications will be considered at a later date.

Part of Smith’s appeal focused on her claim that she had been bed-bound with pneumonia for a number of weeks in February 2015 and had left the care of the farm in the hands of her 50-year-old husband Mark Downs.

He was convicted of 22 similar charges.

She also claimed one of the tractors wasn’t working.

Prosecutor Hazel Stevens said the investigation was launched after concerned members of the public alerted authorities about fleeing and dead animals.

During an inspection on 14 March 2015 officers found sheep, goats and cattle inside the main barn wading knee-deep in mud and faeces.

There were also dozens of dead animals inside, with lethargic sheep laying on top of and underneath dead ones.

Others had open wounds, scabs and visible bones and a young calf was spotted lying next to a dead cow on its side.

The animals had been left no food or water, and eight pigs were found eating the carcass of another.

So bad were conditions that vet Dr David Martin, brought in as an expert consultant, described conditions at the farm as a ‘total animal welfare disaster’.

Smith said issues arose at the farm due to her ill-health and a tractor not working.

Despite being issued with improvement notices, the RSPCA and local authority inspectors found she repeatedly failed to heed them, the court heard.

Sara-Lise Howe, defending, said a ‘perfect storm’ of problems hit her in 2015, including illness and machine failure, as well as the recent death of her father and her mother’s cancer diagnosis.

She added that conditions at the farm had improved since 2015.