Northamptonshire farmer fined £44,000 for dumping remains of slaughtered cow
A FARMER who failed to properly dispose of the remains of a slaughtered cow has been ordered to pay nearly £44,000 in fines and costs.
Trading standards inspectors found the carcass of a bullock in a heap of rubbish at Sheltons Farm, in East Haddon, as well as unmarked meat, unidentified cattle and unhygienic equipment during a two-day investigation in December 2010 that also involved Daventry District Council.
They also found illegally slaughtered meat in an unregistered shop at the farm.
Beef cattle farmer Clive Lawrence, aged 67, was fined £27,000 and ordered to pay £16,949 costs at Northampton Magistrates’ Court yesterday.
Lawrence pleaded guilty earlier this month to 19 charges in relation to breaching several regulations, including food safety.
Cameron Crowe, prosecuting, said the inspection revealed several troubling matters, including the fact 44 of Lawrence’s 102 cattle could not be identified.
He said: “Because they couldn’t be properly identified and therefore legally slaughtered, these cattle were in fact worthless to the defendant unless the meat was to be slaughtered and therefore sold illegally, and their health couldn’t be guaranteed.”
He said the inspection also found health-marked meat contaminated by the illegally slaughtered produce.
Magistrates were shown photographs of blood splattered on a tractor, a chainsaw stained with blood, bone, fat and meat, and rusty and dirty equipment used to process the meat.
Neil Clark, defending, said: “It has been a wake-up call for Mr Lawrence. He has tidied his farm and he has tidied his shop. He passed a recent examination and that visit was unannounced, so it wasn’t a case of him preparing for a visit.”
Magistrate Eric Montgomerie said aggravating factors included the degree of risk to the public’s health and safety, and the extent of the breach.
He said: “We’ve accepted there was considerable improvement.
“However, within all of that you do realise what you were achieving were only the normal standards to be expected. There wasn’t anything superior being done.”
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There are 8 comments to this article
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Sunday, January 22, 2012 at 11:16 PMSeems he became somewhat sloppy and lazy. A £44k hole in his bank account should gee him up a bit! What's with the comments about vegetarianism and not suporting UK farmers though? I respect that some people choose not to eat meat, but UK slaughter practises in general are humane (apart from HALAL, but don't get me started on that!). Congratulations on being a 'veggie' Stevie, but I regret to report that the cow still died. m3mark; your comment is disgraceful; I hope you wrote it out of naivety and stupidity and desparately hope you do not have any influence over any part of the UK public. You are entitled to your opinion, but if I were you I would keep it to myself.
ender
Sunday, January 22, 2012 at 07:34 PMCow or bullock? There is a great difference. Neverthe less, £44,000 seems to a bit excessive for slaughtering an animal without going through the system. A practice which was wide-spread in rural villages until not so long ago, when people killed and supplied meat to their communities without official sanction, paperwork or bureaucratic costs. My own brother-in-law and his father, registered slaughtermen and butchers, used to do this on a regular basis. Still, these days, for most people meat comes in a plastic-wrapped package from a supermarket where they don't even know what the donor animal is or looks like.
Saintsstar
Saturday, January 21, 2012 at 11:32 AMGives farming a bad name
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Saturday, January 21, 2012 at 10:57 AMAnd how many people in this country cannot be identified? Will they be fined £44,000?
choochooytrain
Saturday, January 21, 2012 at 10:43 AMThis sorry excuse for a man should never again be allowed to have cattle in his care,or any other animal. Where are the RSPCA there was ill treatment of this poor animal. As I have always thought profit before welfare of a dumb animal. These people make me sick ,when they think they can do what they like to animals . The farm should be taken away from him arsehole!
m3mark
Saturday, January 21, 2012 at 10:36 AMsupport brittish farmers and buy brittish beef.........!!! i dont think so
SteveWonder
Saturday, January 21, 2012 at 09:46 AMglad I am veggie
lady muck
Saturday, January 21, 2012 at 08:03 AMCongratulations to Trading Standards Inspectors. One wonders how much of this is going on...with 102 cattle, Lawrence was hardly keeping it quiet ! Also, why does it always take so long for cases to come to court...13 months !
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