Boys imprisoned for killing Shetland ponies
Two teenaged boys have been sent to young offender institutions after shooting dead two Shetland ponies belonging to a nursing home in Whitchurch, Shropshire.
Daniel Walker, 18, of Dodington, Whitchurch, and a 15-year-old youth, who cannot be named for legal reasons, were sentenced on 19 February at Shrewsbury Crown Court.
Both had admitted carrying a firearm with intent to commit criminal damage and unlawfully carrying a firearm with ammunition in a public place.
The 15-year-old had also admitted entering a property in Whitchurch and stealing firearms.
The ponies were shot at Edgeley House Nursing and Residential Home between May 3 and 4, 2008.
Walker was sentenced to four years in a young offender institution and the youth was ordered to serve a minimum of two years in custody.
The judge told the youth he seemed to take “a sadistic pleasure” from the animals’ suffering.
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A self-confessed newshound, farmer’s daughter and journalist of many years' experience, Charlotte worked on regional papers before joining H&H in 2007. A regular rider, she visited Ireland in 2010 to investigate the fate of Irish horses through the recession, to much acclaim, and reported from the FEI General Assembly in Rio de Janeiro in 2011. She left Horse & Hound in March 2013.