Delayed punishment: WIgan woman finally sentenced for pony cruelty six years ago

It was in November 2017 that Lorraine Ashurst was found guilty of neglecting three ponies by not seeking treatment for their lameness.

But then she twice failed to turn up for sentence the following year, thus breaching bail.

The now 59-year-old of Cameron Street, Leigh, had pleaded not guilty to mistreating the animals on Barlow’s Farm at Hindley but was convicted by magistrates after a trial.

RSPCA prosecutors had brought charges in relation to a Palomino mare, a chestnut gelding and a grey mare, which were each found with injuries after inspectors visited the site off Close Lane.

The Palomino was lame with laminitis and a foot abscess, the gelding too had an abscess of his foreleg and the grey mare was suffering osteoarthritis to her foreleg.

The court heard that Ashurst failed to take medical measures that would ease their suffering and also neglected to seek parasitic worm control treatment for them.

Sentencing had been due to take place on several occasions last year, but again Ashurst failed to appear in court and so an arrest warrant was issued.

Now finally brought back before Wigan and Leigh justices she was barred from keeping animals for two years, ordered to complete 10 days of rehabilitation activities and told to pay a fine, court costs and a victim services surcharge totalling £840.

She had also been charged with bail breaches but these were dropped because it was decided that they wouldn’t serve the interests of justice.