‘Gypsy horse king’ jailed and given ban from keeping animals
A MAN dubbed “Wales’ gypsy horse king” has been banned for life from keeping animals after a string of animal cruelty offences.
Thomas Tony Price was found guilty on 32 counts of animal cruelty at Merthyr Tydfil Magistrates’ Court last Wednesday and sentenced to six months in prison.
Price, notorious for allowing hundreds of his horses to roam scrubland and streets around Cardiff, the Vale and Bridgend, has a history of prosecutions for mistreating animals and had previously been banned from keeping animals for five years.
In June 2013, he was found guilty of 57 animal welfare offences, with one RSPCA officer saying his horses were “the most poorly and diseased horses I have come across”.
Then in 2016, Price was banned from coming within 50m of horses.
In this latest prosecution brought by the Vale of Glamorgan Council, the Welsh gypsy cob dealer was accused of keeping his sheep and horses in “atrocious conditions” at three locations across the Vale and Bridgend.
Animal health and welfare officers from the council said they discovered maggot-ridden sheep, carcasses and unshorn animals when they visited his farm at Swn-y-Mor in Wick in August 2019. Many of the animals had to be put down by vets.
The following January, officers said they found horses kept by Price in “appalling” conditions with 240 horses found standing in extremely deep mud and lacking food and water.
Two of the sites were said to be strewn with hazards such as sharp metal and barbed wire, and at one site the horses were kept in overcrowded, filthy conditions with nowhere for them to lie down.
Price was charged with causing unnecessary suffering in relation to eight horses, some of which were significantly underweight, while others had long-standing wounds caused by ill-fitting rugs. Officers seized 240 animals.
The prosecution against Price, of Redway Road, Bonvilston, was brought to trial by shared regulatory services, the body responsible for providing environmental health, trading standards and licensing functions across the Bridgend, Cardiff and Vale of Glamorgan areas.
Price appeared before the eight-day trial alongside his former partner Luanne Bishop, who had previously pleaded guilty to 31 of the charges.
Bishop was sentenced at the same time as Price and was handed a 12-week custodial sentence, suspended for 12 months.
She will have to wear an electronic tag for that period and be subject to a night-time curfew between 9pm and 6am and was also disqualified from keeping any animals for life, except for a number of specified pets.
Dave Holland, head of shared regulatory services, said Price’s sentence showed animal neglect and cruelty would not be tolerated.
Mr Holland said: “The decision to hand down a prison sentence and the lifetime disqualification reflects the seriousness of these offences and the extreme suffering Price was responsible for.
“Not only do Price’s practices harm animals, they also cause problems for the wider communities as animals were often allowed to stray or flygraze on land that he did not own.
“This conviction follows many months of partnership working between local authorities, South Wales Police, Redwings [horse sanctuary] and the RSPCA.
“Having to seize and care for animals on this scale has been extremely costly, but those that keep animals should be left in no doubt that these are steps we are prepared to take to ensure animals receive the appropriate level of care.”
Nic de Brauwere, from Redwings, said the amount of charity time, energy and resources the sanctuary had invested in protecting some of Price’s animals over the years was “difficult to put into words”.
Mr de Brauwere added: “I witnessed first-hand the shocking conditions and desperate lack of care at these sites, which included ponies with untreated wounds, not enough food and water and many that were severely underweight living in totally unsuitable conditions.
“I am therefore very pleased and relieved to see a successful prosecution and robust sentencing, which will prevent more horses facing neglect at the hands of these individuals.”