Peeblesshire News | News | Farm search 'unlawful'

Friday, 5th December, 2008

Published: Friday, 1st August, 2008 12:00

Farm search 'unlawful'

By David Knox

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ANIMAL cruelty officers have described how they saw fields of dead sheep before raiding a farm near West Linton.

But what the investigators from the SSPCA witnessed next may not be disclosed in court if the defence team of a government agricultural worker gets their way.

The trial of Andrew Struthers began this week at Peebles Sheriff Court.

The 48-year-old civil servant from Kettleshill Farm is accused of causing the unnecessary suffering of a flock of over 400 lambs during a four-month period leading up to January 19, 2007.

And that 52 of the eight-month-old sheep died because of the alleged neglect.

But confusion over the need for a search warrant under the Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland) Act 2006 may lead to all evidence found by SSPCA officers being thrown out.

And the entire case against the Scottish Government worker collapsing.

Ross Wilkie, senior inspector with the Scottish Society for the Protection of Animals, told the court how he followed up a complaint last January about dead animals at Deanfoot Farm.

He said: “I went in the afternoon for a look and from the road saw around six carcasses.

“I returned the following day and there now appeared to be 10 carcasses in the field.

“A good farmer should be checking his stock on a daily basis and I thought he would have cleared up the carcasses from the previous day.”

The Innerleithen based inspector contacted his boss Paul Anderson and they returned to the farm the following morning.

But neither of the officers obtained a search warrant as they entered the six fields around Deanfoot Farm.

Chief Inspector Paul Anderson told the court: “We wanted to establish what was happening to the sheep.

“I believed we were allowed to enter the land – these sheep required attention.”

Despite making phone calls to Mr Struthers and visiting his farmhouse just over a mile away the officers were unable to speak to the landowner.

And defence lawyer Chris Dickson claims any evidence gathered throughout their search of the fields is inadmissible. Mr Dickson said: “I say the SSPCA did require a warrant. The search was unlawful.

“The SSPCA had been monitoring the situation from the roadway. They did not think it necessary to take immediate action on either of those days. They should have been aware a warrant was required.”

It is believed that the Deanfoot Farm case is amongst the first to come to trial under the new legislation.

And will act as a test case for future animal cruelty trials.

Procurator Fiscal Duncan MacNeill made an impassioned plea for at least some of the officers' evidence to be heard. He told Peebles Sheriff Court: “These men aren’t lawyers – they thought if animals were suffering they could go into these fields and do something about it.

“I argue that they can still give eye-witness evidence even if the photographs, pathologists results from the carcasses and the mapping was deemed inadmissible.

“There is great public concern about cruelty to animals – and there is great public interest in bringing people who are cruel to animals to justice.”

Sheriff John Horsburgh will deliberate over the argument and give his decision prior to the trial resuming on August 27.

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