Woman finally to be sentenced for horse cruelty six years after conviction

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

But then she twice failed to turn up for sentence the following year, thus breaching bail, and only now is justice catching up with her.

The 59-year-old of Cameron Street, Leigh, had pleaded not guilty to misreating the animals on Barlow’s Farm at Hindley.

RSPCA prosecutors had brought charges in relation to a Palomino mare, a chesnut 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.

Appearing before Manchester and Salford magistrates, Ashurst was remanded on bail conditional that she resides at her home address until sentencing which is to take place on July 7.

Pre-sentence reports are now being drawn up.