A man has been jailed for causing “horrific and abhorrent” suffering by making cockerels fight each other.
Footage of the fights, recorded on a mobile phone, have been described as “one of the worst examples of animal cruelty ever seen”.
William Welch, 29, of Darlington, pleaded guilty to charges of causing an animal fight to take place, keeping animals for fighting, and being present at an animal fight on three occasions in December 2017 and January 2018.
On 13 January 2018, acting on an anonymous call to the police control room, officers from North Yorkshire Police’s Rural Taskforce and the RSPCA attended premises at Skutterskelf, near Stokesley.
A number of men were located there. Officers searched buildings and vehicles, and seized a total of 27 live birds, some of which were bleeding from fresh cuts to the body and head.
Inside a stable block, officers located bird feathers, and dried and fresh bloodstains on the floor and carpet.
During the enquiry, an examination was carried out on a mobile phone recovered from Mr Welch, which revealed he was present at a number of other cockfights, on 19 December 2017 and 4 January 2018.
'Sickening'
Investigators described the extremely graphic video footage on the phone as “sickening”.
At Harrogate Magistrates Court earlier this week, Mr Welch was sentenced to 20 weeks in jail, disqualified from keeping all animals for 20 years, and ordered to pay a total of £2,000 costs.
As part of the same case, William Chates, 53, of Darlington, pleaded guilty to being present at an animal fight.
He was sentenced to 120 hours of unpaid work and disqualified from keeping all animals for 10 years, and £170 costs. Two further defendants were found not guilty.
Sergeant Kevin Kelly, of North Yorkshire Police’s Rural Taskforce, said: “This is one of the worst examples of animal cruelty I have seen in over 15 years of police service, so much so that I took the decision not to have the investigating officers view the video footage recovered from Welch’s mobile phone, due to its extreme graphic nature and scenes of catastrophic suffering to the animals involved.
“I would like to acknowledge the anonymous caller who made the decision contact us, knowing that North Yorkshire Police would take the matter seriously.
“I hope news of this sentence finds its way back to them, and serves as an example of how seriously we take this type of crime.”
