Negligent farmer gets ‘wake-up call’ as he’s told to hand in guns

73-year-old at centre of row with eco-cult neighbours admits he left pigs at risk of injury at his rundown property

A farmer who neglected pigs has escaped punishment after agreeing to hand his guns over to the police.

Ian Grindlay – who once drove a herd of rampaging cattle at members of a quasi-religious sect – has been admonished after a sheriff convicted him of exposing animals to danger.

The 73-year-old agreed to hand in his firearms licence after being told the Chief Constable of Police Scotland planned to take it away from him.

Perth Sheriff Court was told the police did not consider him a suitable person to keep guns because of the dangerous state of his livestock farm.

Grindlay, of Tomdarroch Farm, Aberfeldy, admitted exposing pigs to machinery and scrap metal with sharp protruding edges during April 2016.

Solicitor David Holmes, defending, said: “There would have been an application to revoke his licence if he had not co-operated. He is to hand over his firearms.”

A trial heard the rundown state of Grindlay’s farm exposed the pigs to the danger of injury and that he had not kept up with modern farming requirements.

Grindlay changed his plea to guilty during the trial and the court heard efforts had since been made to improve conditions on the farm.

Sheriff Derek Reekie said: “This was an animal welfare prosecution involving conditions on a farm. There were substantial concerns.

“The purpose of the prosecution was to give him a wake-up call, hope he realises the seriousness of this and does something about it.

“Whatever your practices have been in the past, you are now fully aware of the requirements of modern regulations in relation to your animals.”

In 2012, Grindlay lost a £100,000 legal battle with his neighbour and was ordered to get off land belonging to Margaretha Verkaik, who runs an eco-cult and calls herself the Reverend Mother.

In a written judgment issued after a 17-day hearing, Sheriff Michael Fletcher said: “I formed the impression that he had deliberately and cynically decided to do what he could to place himself in the position that he had full rights in relation to the farm. “He took advantage of an ill- advised act of good neighbourliness. In many ways he lived in a world of his own, rather than the real world.”

The dispute, which ran for almost a decade, began shortly after Ms Verkaik and her then husband Dr Chaman Anand bought Boreland Farm near Aberfeldy in 2001.

She agreed to let Mr Grindlay’s cattle graze on part of her land as he struggled to cope with tightened regulations during the foot-and-mouth crisis.

In return, he offered to do repairs and other work around the farm but no formal grazing contract was ever signed between the parties.

Over the years, Mr Grindlay began to graze his cows on other parts of Ms Verkaik’s land and refused to remove them when he was asked to do so.

The court was told that a number of clashes took place between Mr Grindlay and visitors who arrived for alternative lifestyle holidays at the eco-centre.

Mr Grindlay was alleged to have encouraged a friend to beat up a martial arts master who had set up a training camp in the commune-style eco-village next door.

At one point, Ms Verkaik sued her neighbour for £63,000 for failing to erect teepees for her.

In return, he won an interdict banning her from planting crops on her own land.

Farmer Ian Grindlay has been spared punishment after police indicated they would seek to get his guns licence revoked