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SHROPSHIRE BREEDER CONVICTED
(Cutting Shropshire Star July 3rd 2001 by Debbie Knox)
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(Is this Moonstar after having a new blaze inserted aren't they clever???!!!
Click here to look at blaze/head blow ups
A Shropshire animal breeder given a suspended jail sentence for causing unnecessary suffering to two horses and a dog should have been banned from keeping animals for life, the RSPCA said today.
Oswestry magistrates told Marcia Jones she would not be allowed to have care or control of animals for at least ten years after they sentenced her yesterday to four months in prison suspended for two years.
Jones, 57, of Lyneal, near Ellesmere, admitted causing unnecessary suffering to a colt in February this year by failing to provide it with proper care and attention and also admitted causing unnecessary suffering to an eight-year-old bay mare called Moonstar in September 1999.
She was also found guilty after a trial held in her absence of a similar charge involving a Jack Russell terrier in August last year.
The RSPCA today said it was disappointed Jones had not been banned from keeping animals for life.
She was banned from having care and control of animals for 10 years.
Jones, whose solicitor, Mr Simon Parry, told the court she was suffering from breast cancer and mental health problems, was also ordered to pay £2,000 towards the RSPCA costs.
After the case, RSPCA spokeswoman Jo Cunningham said: "We are very, very pleased the magistrates recognised the seriousness of the offences by imposing a custodial sentence, albeit suspended due to Jones's circumstances.
"However, we are very disappointed the magistrates didn't see fit to ban Jones from keeping animals for life. In 10 years time, once the ban has expired, she could be in the situation of owning animals again and this sort of thing could happen all over again."
Mrs Cunningham said RSPCA inspectors had been trying to persuade Mrs Jones for many years to co-operate with the animal charity.
Last month Jones was convicted by Market Drayton magistrates of causing unnecessary suffering to another mare in August 1999 and banned from keeping animals for five years.