Covert CCTV footage has exposed a slaughterhouse for horrific treatment of animals and led to the conviction of two workers.

Living sheep had their throats hacked at repeatedly by workers at a halal slaughterhouse, Blackburn magistrates court heard this week.

Welfare charity Animal Aid installed cameras in the slaughterhouse at Burnley Road, Dunnockshaw, run by Dale Valley Rossendale Limited of Bradford.

Animal Aid commissioned investigators to secretly enter the slaughterhouse and install cameras in the killing room.

Footage showed animals not being properly restrained correctly during the killing process, causing great distress. 

The footage was used as evidence to the Food Standards Agency, and eventually led to the prosecution.

Local newspaper This is Lancashire, which attended the court case, quoted Howard Shaw, prosecuting: “It is not that they were ignorant of the regulations, these were deliberate breaches.”

According to the report, when the overseeing vet was present all procedures were adhered to.

Convicted

The trial was the second part and conclusion of a trial held in 2017.

This week, Imdad Ali, 47, of Park Road, Accrington, pleaded guilty to ‘failing to ensure sheep were not moved, shacked or hoisted after they had been stuck and before it was unconscious, failing to ensure a sheep was killed by severance of its carotid arteries and jugular veins by rapid, uninterrupted movements of a knife, excessive flexing of the neck of a sheep during sticking, failing to ensure sheep were moved with care, and sticking a sheep while it was not properly restrained causing it to fall to the floor while being bled’.

He was served an eight week sentence suspended for 18 months and ordered to complete 200 hours of unpaid work. He was also ordered to pay £200 costs and an £85 victim surcharge.

Joseph Bell, 23, of Carr Bank Farm, Crawshawbooth, pleaded guilty to ‘four charges relating to the improper handling of the sheep prior to slaughter’. 

Bell was ordered to complete a community order of 120 hours unpaid work, and also told to pay £150 costs and an £85 victim surcharge.

• Read: Conscious cows’ legs cut off in horrific slaughterhouse footage released by activists

What do you think of the punishments handed to the slaughterhouse workers? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

Oli Gross

Oli’s career and personal ethical values both help shape his reporting of the diverse world of veganism. His background is in local newspaper and magazine journalism, and his work has included reporting court cases, celebrity interviews, business analysis, food and drink features and government legislation.

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