Kent horse dealer Tom Bonner fined £16,000 for passport offences

A Kent horse dealer has been fined £16,000 and ordered to pay £6,750 costs after being found guilty of seven trading standards offences and of selling a horse without a passport.

Tom Bonner, of Darenth Hill, Darenth appeared at Gravesend Magistrates Court on Monday, 11 February, to be sentenced, he was found guilty at the same court on 11 January.

The charges came about after reporters from BBC Southeast went undercover in 2005, posing as a couple wanting to buy a horse from Bonner.

The trading Standards charges refer to horses sold by Bonner that were found to be much older than described.

Kent Trading Standards brought the case, with help from the International League for the Protection of Horses (ILPH).

Ted Barnes of the ILPH said: “The severe punishment is an indication of how serious the court felt this case was and sends out a clear message to people with the same idea as Mr Bonner.”

He thanked the BBC and Kent Trading Standards for their help in bringing Bonner to justice.

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