Legal row over lamb cruelty case

A sheriff will decide whether the evidence can be heard

A sheriff is to decide whether raid evidence against a man accused of starving 52 lambs to death at a farm in the Borders should be heard in court.

Rural affairs civil servant Andrew Struthers, 48, of Kettleshill Farm, West Linton, denies the offence.

Defence lawyers say evidence gathered in a raid is inadmissible as no search warrant had been obtained.

Sheriff John Horsburgh will give his judgment before the trial resumes on 27 August at Peebles Sheriff Court.

Mr Struthers is alleged to have committed the offence between October 2006 and January 2007.

These men aren't lawyers - they thought if animals were suffering they could go into these fields and do something about it Duncan MacNeill Procurator fiscal

Ross Wilkie, senior inspector with the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, told the court how he followed up a complaint last January about dead animals at Deanfoot Farm.

He said: "I went in the afternoon for a look and from the road saw around six carcasses.

"I returned the following day and there now appeared to be 10 carcasses in the field.

"A good farmer should be checking his stock on a daily basis and I thought he would have cleared up the carcasses from the previous day."

The Innerleithen-based inspector contacted his boss Paul Anderson and they returned to the farm the following morning.

Neither of the officers obtained a search warrant as they entered the six fields.

Unlawful search

Mr Anderson told the court: "We wanted to establish what was happening to the sheep.

"I believed we were allowed to enter the land - these sheep required attention."

Despite making phone calls to Mr Struthers and visiting his farmhouse just over a mile away the officers were unable to speak to the landowner.

Defence lawyer Chris Dickson claimed any evidence gathered throughout their search of the fields was inadmissible.

He said the SSPCA required a warrant and its search was unlawful.

"The SSPCA had been monitoring the situation from the roadway," he said.

"They did not think it necessary to take immediate action on either of those days.

"They should have been aware a warrant was required."

'Eyewitness evidence'

Procurator Fiscal Duncan MacNeill asked that at least some of the officers' evidence should be heard.

"These men aren't lawyers - they thought if animals were suffering they could go into these fields and do something about it," he said.

"I argue that they can still give eyewitness evidence even if the photographs, pathologists results from the carcasses and the mapping was deemed inadmissible.

"There is great public concern about cruelty to animals - and there is great public interest in bringing people who are cruel to animals to justice."

Sheriff John Horsburgh will deliberate over the argument and give his decision prior to the trial resuming.