Horse died 'agonising' death after owner neglected him

A man has been banned from keeping equines for life after his horse died an 'agonising' death.

Simon Nall did not attend to his piebald colt horse named Storm for several months and pleaded guilty to failing to take reasonable steps to prevent another person from causing unnecessary suffering.

The court heard Storm was stabled with four other horses and had been dead for several days when he was found.

A vet concluded it would have taken several months for Storm to get in that state.

The court was told that, in interview, Nall admitted he did not go and see Storm very often and could not remember the last time he saw him.

Nall’s solicitor John McGregor said in court that Nall believed his mother - who he did not live with - had been looking after Storm and so he did not attend to him regularly.

As well as a lifetime disqualification on keeping equines, the magistrates also imposed an 18-week prison sentence suspended for two years, ordered him to carry out 250 hours of unpaid work, imposed a three-month curfew order and told him to pay costs of £400 and a £115 victim surcharge.