Slaughterhouse operative jailed

Slaughterhouse operative jailed

A slaughterhouse operative in Staffordshire has been sentenced to ten months imprisonment for food safety and animal welfare offences.

An investigation, carried out by the Food Standard’s Agency (FSA) and Staffordshire Council, took place as a result of covert cameras installed at Bagshaw’s plant in Leek, Staffordshire.

Anthony Bagshaw was sentenced to eight months imprisonment for food safety offences and an additional two months imprisonment for animal welfare/movement offences after pleading guilty earlier this year to a total of 24 offences.

The offences included serious animal welfare breaches; food safety offences, such as the illegal slaughter without inspections taking place and slaughtering a species he was not licensed to slaughter; the movement of animals without proper authorisation; and trading standards offences, such as the sale of meat without traceability information.

In sentencing, His Honour judge Gosling commented that Bagshaw “disregarded regulatory requirements deliberately and over a long period [of time]”; and that the food offences “put food safety seriously at risk” and had the effect of “undermining confidence that the public have in regulatory controls on food”.

Gosling also described some of the welfare offences – such as hitting sheep on the head with a stun gun or kicking a pig in the face – as “wanton cruelty”, and remarked that Bagshaw’s “ill treatment of a number of animals was a shock even to an observer with no interest in the welfare of stock for slaughter”.

Jason Feeney, chief operating officer at the FSA, said: “We welcome the sentencing and are pleased that the defendant recognised he broke the law in relation to meat hygiene and animal welfare breaches. The FSA will not tolerate food crime that endangers both consumers and animals alike.

“We hope the sentencing is a major deterrent to those who think they can profit from cutting corners and jeopardising food safety.”

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