Delia Stacey horse-keeping ban upheld by London’s Appeal Court

A Guildford woman jailed for breaching a court ban on keeping horses had her disqualification upheld by top judges yesterday (7 April).

Delia Clare Stacey, 37, received a total 112-day sentence at Guildford Crown Court last September after she admitted breaching an earlier court ban on keeping horses.

She also admitted breaching the terms of an previously imposed suspended sentence, which was immediately put into effect.

Stacey was further ordered to pay £5,000 in prosecution costs and banned from keeping animals for a further five years.

Stacey was originally banned from keeping horses for three years in May 2006 after she was convicted of causing unnecessary suffering to three horses found in fields with inadequate grazing.

In March last year, an RSPCA inspector visited her home at Pepperbox Stud, Bramley, near Guildford, discovering four horses on the land despite the ban in force.

Stacey was then hauled back to court, and sentenced for breaching the earlier ban.

Her case reached London’s Appeal Court yesterday as she challenged the five-year ban on keeping horses, but without success.

Mr Justice Penry-Davey — sitting with Lady Justice Hallett and Mr Justice Holroyde — said there was “no basis” for criticising the Crown Court judge’s order.

“The fact remains that she is an offender and has taken little cognizance of the court orders made against her,” the judge concluded, dismissing the appeal.

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