A 57-year-old Howle Hill woman has been banned from keeping animals for life following the death of three pigs on her farm.

At Hereford Magistrates last week, Ms Carpenter was found guilty on three charges of animal cruelty. Two of the charges were in relation to the unnecessary suffering of animals and failure to explore and address the cause of the animals' weight loss. For her failure to ensure the animals were provided with clean dry bedding, she was found guilty of a third charge.

It was in November last year that RSPCA inspectors found the three dead pigs – Gloucester Old Spots – at Carpenters farm on Howle Hill. During post mortem examinations, one of the pig's bodies had started using its own bone marrow as food, a last resort in animal starvation cases.

Magistrates sentenced Carpenter to four months in custody for each charge, served concurrently but suspended for 18 months. She was also ordered to undertake 150 hours of unpaid work and imposed a £580 fine. She was also disqualified for life, or until a further order is made, from owning, keeping or participating in keeping and being party to arrangement where she would be in control of where animals are kept.

For more stories in full please see this week's Ross Gazette.