South Yorkshire Times, December 15, 1951
Illegal Slaughtering Of Cow
Young Kilnhurst Farmer Fined £50
Police officers visiting Lodge Farm, Kilnhurst, on September 26th found the remains of a cow which had been illegally slaughtered—the edible portions of which were missing—together with the fully developed carcase of an unborn calf.
Query About Sacks
Later the officers found five sacks each containing the decomposed hide and feet of a beast, and this information, which was given to Ministry of Food Enforcement Inspectors, led to the appearance at Rotherham West Riding Court on Monday of the owner of the form, Keith Hickling (21), who was fined a total of £50 and ordered to pay £12 12s costs after pleading. “Guilty” through Mr. J. P. Crehan to unlawfully causing a cow to be slaughtered without licence, and to disposing of meat without licence.
He pleaded “Not Guilty” to further similar charges concerning five cows, and these were dismissed on grounds of insufficient evidence.
Prosecuting on behalf of the Ministry of Food, Mr. P. White, said that when food enforcement officers questioned Hickling he told them that he had had the cow killed because it had broken its leg and the meat had been taken by a butcher friend. When asked by the officers if he had a licence to slaughter the cow he replied that he had not. He evidently knew the correct procedure when a beast was slaughtered because he told one officer that there was 1d. per lb. off the price of a casualty. He admitted to the officer that he had put sacks containing the hides and feet of five other beasts in the pig-sty. When it was pointed out to him that they were the results of illegal slaughter he replied “I suppose so.”
Mr. White submitted that if Hickling could afford to kill a cow in-calf then the meat was intended for black market purposes, otherwise it would not be worth his while to slaughter it
Still Warm
Detective Sergeant Gledhill told the Bench that when he and Detective Sergeant Barkby visited a barn at Hickling’s farm, they found the walls splashed with blood and under some straw on the floor were the still warm intestines of a beast, There was also the carcaseof an unborn calf and in a sack was the freshly flayed hide of a black and white beast. They took possession of a number of butcher’s implements.
In court Hickling said he took over the farm from his father in May this year. The stock on the farm at that time was six milk cows, two bullock calves and one heifer calf. He bought the cow in-calf for £65 and at the time that he had it killed it was worth £10 more than what he had paid. He had received £66 for the meat when he sold it. He had no experience of slaughtering, and he had sold the meat without licence because he was short of money and he had been depending on the cow for its milk yield.
In answer to Mr. Crehan, Hickling said he had never been near the pig-sty and denied saying that he had told the Inspector that he had put the sacks there.
Only Suspicion
Mr. Crelian submitted that it could he proved that the stock left on the farm by his client’s father was still there and there was no evidence to prove that the cow he had had killed was anything other than a casualty. With regard to the live sacks in the pig sty there was no evidence to prove that his client had killed the beast, the hides of which were contained in the sack. It was only suspicion.
The presiding magistrate (Col. J. W B. Landon) said there was a considerable degree of suspicion with regard to the sack containing the hides of five beasts but suspicion was not sufficient evidence to make a conviction, and the Bench had decided to dismiss the charges concerning these five beasts.