Judge scraps bill for horses in cruelty case

A judge has stepped in to halt a £2,500 weekly bill to ratepayers to keep horses seized from a Llangollen woman following a cruelty case.

More than 40 horses were found, one dead, others dying, on land at Penycae.

Those which survived could not be rehomed because the owner, Margaret O’Leary, appealed against a court order.

O’Leary, 72, of Abbey Road, Llangollen, was jailed for eight weeks in July for cruelty to horses and was banned from keeping horses for two years.

Wrexham Borough Council, which has been paying £2,500 a week since June for stabling the horses, was told it could now dispose of them as it wished. The animals are now expected to be rehomed.

RSPCA and trading standard inspectors seized 45 horses, some emaciated, riddled with parasites and with open wounds, from the litter-strewn land.

O’Leary, who had 81 horses, admitted eight charges of causing unnecessary suffering to eight animals, two charges of failing to ensure horses’ needs by keeping them in a hazardous environment, and one of intentionally obstructing officers.

She then appealed against the district judge’s order that the council should have the authority to dispose of the remaining horses.

Mr Des Parry, for O’Leary asked for an adjournment as he was without complete instructions - but Judge John Rogers QC refused.

He said the orders had been made on June 19 and the authority had since been paying stabling costs at £2,500 a week.