James Gray and teenage son found guilty on all 11 counts of cruelty
James Gray and his son James Gray junior have been found guilty of all charges against them at Bicester Magistrates Court today.
James Gray, of Spindle Farm, Chalk Lane, Hyde Heath, and his son James were convicted of nine charges of causing unneccessary suffering to animals and two charges of failing to protect animals from pain, injury, suffering and disease.
Gray’s wife Julie and daughters Cordelia and Jodie were found guilty of the two charges of failing to protect the animals.
The judge today lifted a court order banning James junior from being identified.
RSPCA officers found 31 dead horses, ponies and donkeys at the farm when they attended in January 2008. A further 115 were removed alive but in poor condition.
The Gray family will be sentenced at Aylesbury Magistrates Court on 12 June.
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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.