ISLE OF WIGHT WOMAN JAILED FOR HORSE CRUELTY AT OSBORNE HOUSE
A woman who kept underweight mite-infested horses in filthy conditions at a former residence of Queen Victoria has been sentenced for animal cruelty.Seven horses kept at Osborne House in East Cowes, Isle of Wight, were seized in March by the RSPCA.
Beverly Knight, 34, of York Avenue, East Cowes, pleaded guilty at Isle of Wight Magistrates' Court and received an eight-week suspended sentence.
The animals were being used for horse and carriage rides to the house.
The service was run by Knight, a contractor working for the historic site, but staff of the house raised concerns to the RSPCA over the welfare of the horses.
Inspectors found the seven animals living "in unsuitable conditions in stables that had not been cleaned out for months." Two Clydesdale horses from the herd, named Claude and Reilly, were also underweight and covered in untreated mites.
RSPCA inspector Mark Buggie said: "These horses had been left to suffer living in awful conditions.
One of the horses was even standing on top of a pile of muck so high that his head was in the rafters." Knight pleaded guilty to charges under sections 4 and 9 of the Animal Welfare Act, of failing to treat problems with the legs and feet of two horses and leaving the group of horses in unsanitary conditions.
She was subsequently banned from keeping horses for life and received an order to complete 100 hours of unpaid work as well as a £250 fine and an £80 court surcharge.
All seven horses have since recovered well and have been re-homed.
