Last updated at 5:55 PM on 27th January 2012
Jailed: Keith Littlewood pictured on his way into Nottingham Magistrates Court after pleading guilty to breaching the animal welfare act
A farmer has been jailed for 12 months after his animals were found dead and decaying around his farm.
Trading Standards officers discovered up to 50 rotting carcasses of pigs, cows, poultry and a donkey around Keith James Littlewood's farm in Bestwood, Nottingham, after carrying out a random inspection following a tip-off last March.
They also found a number of animals starving, with no access to food or water, and feeding off the carcasses of the dead animals, at the White Haven farm.
Trading standards officers who visited the farm in Goosedale Lane, Bestwood, last March said it was the most horrific incident they have ever dealt with - describing the stench as 'nauseating'.
Prosecutor Christopher Green told Nottingham Crown Court that a number of pigs were found to be emaciated, with one feeding off one of the dead animals in its pen.
A DVD shown in court of the trading standards inspection showed a heifer and her calf in a barn with another rotting cow carcass. Another pregnant heifer was found straining to give birth as she was so emaciated.
The court heard that dead animals were found in pens, trailers and barns around the farm, which a vet believed could have been there for weeks and even months.
Horrific: Animals discovered starving at Keith Littlewoods farm by Trading Standards officers in Nottingham who described the case as the most 'horrific' they have ever dealt with
Nauseating: Trading standards officers who visited the farm in Goosedale Lane, Bestwood, last March said it was the most horrific incident they have ever dealt with - describing the stench as 'nauseating'
Poultry carcasses were found 'mummified' while a dead donkey was also found on the site. Other livestock were found starving with little or no water or food and no straw in their pens.
Some of the animals from the farm have since been rehomed but a cow and three pigs were found in such a bad condition that they had to be put down.
The farm was described as being in a state of disrepair with animals in danger from hazards such as barbed wire.
Evidence that Littlewood had attempted to burn some of the carcasses was also found, the court heard.
Judge Michael Stokes QC, the Recorder of Nottingham, said: 'I've never in my life seen anything as appalling as what I saw on the DVDs and photographs shown to me.'
Littlewood pleaded guilty to four breaches of animal by-product regulations, relating to not disposing of eight dead cows, one donkey, and a number of pig and chicken carcasses.
He also admitted eight breaches of the Animal Welfare Act, relating to cruelty and causing unnecessary suffering to three cows, 17 pigs and a dog.
Littlewood was jailed for 12 months today at Nottingham Crown Court today for animal cruelty and breaching animal by-product laws.
Inspectors from Nottinghamshire County Council trading standards filmed and took photos of the scene at the farm. They were first alerted to the situation by a member of the public who complained about concerns about the welfare of the animals on the farm.
Nottingham County Council Trading Standards officers described the case as 'the most horrific they have ever dealt with'.
Nottingham Crown Court: Keith James Littlewood was jailed today for a year after admitting breaching the Animal Welfare Act
Nicola Schofield, Trading Standards Manager at Nottinghamshire County Council said: 'This is the most horrific case of animal cruelty we have ever had to deal with.
'The scenes the Council's Trading Standards and Animal Welfare officers were faced with when they arrived at White Haven Farm were absolutely horrendous.
'We are immensely grateful to the member of the public who reported this to us.
'Animals had clearly been mistreated for a long period and if the witness hadn't come forward, there is every chance that this cruelty would have gone on for much longer, increasing the chances of more animals dying and disease being spread from the carcases.'
The maximum penalty for breaches of the Animal By-Product Regulations 2011 is two years imprisonment and an unlimited fine.
The penalty for offences under the Animal Welfare Act is imprisonment of up to 51 weeks and a fine of up to 20,000.
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