A WOMAN from Great Harwood has been convicted of 26 charges of neglecting horses.

But the district judge who acquitted Mary Smith of a further 23 charges said he is not considering sending her to prison.

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The court heard details of a foal that could not stand on its own and which eventually had to be put down, as did several more of her horses.

The equine respiratory ailment strangles was rife among the horses kept in fields around Great Harwood, Clayton-le-Moors, Langho and Oswaldtwistle. Many of the animals also had overgrown hooves, lice and worm infestation and were in poor bodily condition, Blackburn magistrates were told during the hearing yesterday.

Warning notices were issued to Smith in the spring of 2014 but these were not acted on.

Some horses were signed over by Smith and other animals were seized by police and handed over to the RSPCA.

The court heard Smith was left in charge of the family scrapyard in Great Harwood, the horses and a cafe, and with responsibility for her four home-tutored children after her husband, Tommy Smith, was jailed for three years, and she relied heavily on her staff.

The horses subject to the charges were animals that she claimed had been abandoned in the fields around Great Harwood after word got round the Travelling community that she was taking in knackers.

Simon Farnsworth, defending, argued that Smith could not be held responsible for the condition of the horses before they were abandoned. “My client has maintained that she did her best for the horses once she took active control of their management,” said Mr Farnsworth.

“She says many of the horses improved in condition after being left with her. That some did not and had to be euthanised is more down to their original condition than anything she did or did not do.”

District Judge James Clarke convicted Smith, 38, of the charges which related to horses for which the RSPCA had issued warning notices.

He said she had inherited the horses almost by default when her husband was jailed.

“I have not convicted you on the basis that these were deliberate acts of cruelty or that these animals had been held by your family for any period of time,” he said.

“They were being kept for commercial gain and some suffered serious harm but there is limited culpability on your part.”

The case was adjourned for the preparation of a pre-sentence report and Smith, of Meadow Street, Great Harwood, will be sentenced on October 9.