A MAN who left a horse starving in a field for up to three weeks has been jailed.
Liam Taylor, 27, was already on bail for animal cruelty when an RSPCA officer found Sunshine lying in a field covered with a rug.
Vets tried for three-and-a-half hours to revive the Chestnut mare, but the horse was put down on humane grounds.
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ow Taylor has been jailed for 14 weeks after admitting four counts of animal cruelty at South East Northumberland Magistrates' Court.
Judith Curry, prosecuting, said: "It is clear that this horse had suffered unnecessarily for up to three weeks, because of the conditions in the field and inadequate diet.
"The RSPCA officer and the vets tried for three-and-a-half hours to get the horse up, but they had no other option but to put her to sleep on humane grounds."
The court was told Taylor and his mother Susan were arrested in January 2007 after RSPCA officers found three other horses that had been left alone in a field.
A bay mare was taken into the care of RSPCA officers after weeks of neglect.
The pair, described as avid horse lovers, were given 300 hours of unpaid work when they appeared before Alnwick magistrates.
But while Taylor was on bail in relation to those offences, an RSPCA officer visited a field at West Chevington Farm, where they found another near-starved horse, Sunshine.
Taylor, of Linterburn Park, Widdrington, was arrested again but made no reply in police interview.
He went on to admit further charges of animal cruelty when he appeared in court.
Michelle Lamond, defending, said Taylor had been around animals since he was a child, but has suffered personal difficulties in recent years.
Taylor was also disqualified from owning animals for 20 years.
The full article contains 309 words and appears in Northumberland Gazette newspaper.
