Never Mind The Horses On The Pitch...

...what about the elephant in the room?

York cricketers have been left on a sticky wicket due to horses invading their pitch. Hopgrove Playing Fields, in Malton Road, are in danger of being seriously damaged by stray horses regularly getting on to the pitches, churning up the ground and leaving piles of manure, it has been claimed.

Richard Kerrison, chairman of Stockton and Hopgrove Cricket Club, said he feared the playing fields would become unusable if nothing was done to address the problem.

Now, why would 'nothing be done'?

“We have rung the council and the police and they seem to say there’s nothing we can do. It’s ruining peoples’ enjoyment.”

Gosh. It's a mystery. Who could these horses possibly belong to?

At The Risk Of Sounding Like Tevye, 'Tradition!'

Croydon Guardian:

Three men have been arrested after a mass brawl involving multiple stabbings broke out at a wake.

Gosh, stabbings? At a wake? Who could do such a thing? The 'Guardian' is reticent about giving further details.

This Is Croydon:

A "vendetta" within two warring traveller communities led to three men being stabbed after a brawl during a wake at a pub.

Shocker, I'm sure you'll agree. It's so unexpected...

"...and hear the lamentation of the women."

Hey, Conan was right!

The family broke down and wept in the dock, except for William, who stood stoney faced.

Mary, also known as Breda, screamed uncontrollably and frantically pulled her hair as the first verdict, against her husband was read out.

"Oh daddy! Oh daddy!" she yelled. "Mind the children. Why are you doing this? I have never done anything to anyone in all my life."

Six security staff struggled to maintain order while the verdicts were read out. One security guard was injured as family members leapt to their feet and Gloucestershire Police officers in the front row helped eject family members from the public gallery.

Extra security guards rushed into court to physically remove relatives.

John Connors' wife was carried from the court after trying to climb out of the public gallery into the dock. As she left, she wailed: "Please, please, I'm asking you no. Don't do this."

Miles Connors' wife was also carried screaming from the court.

Who said we had abolished slavery in England?

Credit Where Credit’s Due…

…it seems they are finally being forced to do something about the tethered horse problem in York:

The RSPCA brought the prosecution as part of an investigation into complaints from the public about horses tethered on roadside verges.

Lawyers for the seven, who are all called Smith and who live at Ryedale Caravan Site, Outgang Lane, Osbaldwick, successfully asked for their cases to be adjourned while probation officers prepare reports on them, and reserved their mitigation until the sentencing hearing.

Amazingly, they’ve all pleaded guilty straight off.

All seven were ordered to return to court on November 15 when they will be sentenced and learn if they are to receive bans on keeping horses or animals.

Mitigation should be….interesting.

A Fine Send Off, To Be Sure!

The 31-year-old from Oxford was injured at about 11.20am yesterday during a funeral service being held at the Greyfriars Church in Iffley Road.

The service was for 76-year-old Winnie Joyce, a mother of 13 children, grandmother to 64 and great grandmother to 45.

Yes. You guessed it:

Her family lives at the Redbridge Hollow travellers’ site, near Kennington, which she helped set up with husband Christopher Joyce.

Emergency services and the police helicopter were called in yesterday to deal with the incident, after crowds of people poured out on to Iffley Road.

Lovely!

Police declined to confirm how many officers were sent to deal with the incident.

Because the answer is ‘an embarrassing amount, given we made no arrests’…

H/T: John Gibson via email

"I'm not scared of gypsies – even if the police are."

Maureen Sorali-King was so fed up with thieves targeting Grandma's Attic in Edenbridge High Street, she donned a disguise and played detective herself. She told the Courier: "The police are so busy you have to do it yourself. Maybe they might do something if I got stabbed.

"I've been treated diabolically and I'm sick of it."

You aren’t the only one!

On August 29 a group of people stole about £7,000 worth of Royal Crown Derby crockery from the shop. Ms Sorali-King's sophisticated seven-camera CCTV network recorded images of a man, three women and a child and she immediately sought to give the footage and photos to the police but found they were often busy.

Really? How come? Could it be because of what they show?

So she took matters into her own hands, disguising herself with a charity shop wig before heading up to Essex on the trail of the culprits.

Since then she has visited travellers' camps across Kent, Sussex and Surrey, where she believes she will find those guilty of the crimes.

Well, well, well….

She has passed on findings from her undercover operation, including a sighting of a vehicle she believed was involved, to the police but said their response was simply to stay away from the traveller sites.

Undeterred, she now plans to plaster the front of her store with more than 30 photos of those she believes are responsible.

I bet that brings them round to her shop! Probably to whine about the suspects ‘human rights’.

A spokesman for Kent Police said… police had struggled to reach Ms Sorali-King by phone …

Eh? Dial buttons too small for fat plod fingers? Lost the station handset down the back of the staff room sofa?

… but they had reviewed their response and said the correct procedures had been adhered to.

How can this possibly be the case? Surely ‘the correct procedures’ would have been to get the CCTV and distribute it as widely as possible?

Travellers To Be Called….What?

Travellers have urged Croydon Council to find them a permanent site because they want to settle down.

Ummmm. Yeah. Me too.

*scratches head*

Last week it was revealed the authority had dealt with 83 illegal encampments this year, and that it had cost taxpayers more than £3,000 a week to clean up after travellers.

But Michael Connors, one of the caravan-dwellers near Croydon's Ikea this week, has hit back at the criticism.

Oh, well, there’s always one.

The 30-year-old dad-of-four said he was fed-up travelling around and wanted to receive some long-term help.

But they don’t want to be called ‘beggars’, remember?

Mr Connors said: "If we get a site we'd pay gas and electricity and rates, we don't want it for free. "Croydon is a very big area and Croydon has got lots of wasteland. I need somewhere permanent to get my children permanent education.

"They (Croydon Council) are supposed to have so many sites – we would like to be off the road.

"There's a lot of travellers who have gone off the roads and into houses."

Want, want want.

Council leader Mike Fisher tore into a group of travellers last month and slammed the rubbish and human excrement being left behind as "a risk to human health".

But Mr Connor says it is important not to class all travellers as "bad'uns".

And yet, that’s all we ever seem to hear. When do we ever see a story of travellers giving back to the community? Sorting out the mess they cause?

Never. That’s when.

He explained: "If there's any crime in the area then people think we've done it. "Once we move off the site the fly-tippers come along. We actually get the blame for it.

"To be honest it makes us feel tormented."

Awwwww! Fetch the Tiny Violin!

Good Job, RSPCA! Now….About Those Travellers…

A ‘horse lover’ has been found guilty of 52 counts of animal cruelty.

Philip Davies, 65, of Plantation Road, Edgworth, also pleaded guilty to two counts of failing to protect the horses from pain, injury, suffering, and disease, and two counts of failing to provide a suitable environment, during the two-day trial.

The charges, brought by the RSPCA, relate to 17 horses kept on land in Edgworth.

Hurrah! Cruelty to animals is to be abhorred. Even when it isn't deliberate cruelty, but neglect and lack of concern for their safety.

Summing up, district judge Peter Ward said: “Adequate steps should be taken to reduce infestation, but these steps were not taken.

“Davies had too many horses and he could not adequately deal with them.

“The inadequate control and the level of the infestation was so much that it caused suffering.

“Mr Davies was not able to keep on top of the number of horses, and the condition in which they should be kept. ”

Who could disagree with this?

Speaking after the case, Chief Inspector Cathy Hyde, of the RSPCA, said: “I am very pleased with the judgement.”

Well, so you should be!

So, when will the RSPCA be rounding up the horses in York then? And prosecuting their owners? 

Cathy..?

Hello?

Are you there, Cathy..?

Can New Legislation Fix This?

I'm doubtful:

Thousands of horses and ponies face being abandoned or suffering from neglect as irresponsible breeding, spiralling bills, and rockbottom sale prices take their toll, according to six leading equine welfare organisations.

And guess what they want to help prevent this? That’s right!

The organisations are calling for legislation that will enable them to more quickly identify owners and punish them with fines and the seizure of animals for fly-grazing.

Hmmm, now, maybe it’s me, but surely all horses require a ‘Equine Passport’? Tattooing, etc? Shouldn't that be the thing that identifies owners?

Surely…the answer couldn't be that people aren't complying with it?

Right! I know what’ll fix this! More legislation!

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What..?