Lifetime ban for animal rescue owner is upheld following appeal

A judge has upheld a lifetime ban on keeping animals issued to a former rescue centre owner, who was convicted of a string of neglect offences last year.

Lynn Haydon-Williams, 65, ran the Haywill Animal Rescue and Therapy Centre, located at two sites, one in Glossop and one in Broadbottom.

Following a prosecution by the RSPCA she was found guilty of causing unnecessary suffering to multiple animals, being convicted of 13 offences under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 on 28th March 2024.

Earlier this month, at Manchester Crown Court, Haydon-Williams appealed against her conviction and sentence, with the judge upholding 11 convictions.

The judge said that the previous sentence imposed was “entirely appropriate”, ruling that Haydon-Williams’ lifetime ban from keeping animals should remain in place, as well as a six-month prison sentence suspended for 18 months. She is still required to complete 240 hours of unpaid work and ordered to pay an extra £600 as a contribution to the costs of her appeal.

The offences in 2024 related to the neglect of horses, goats, pigs and a coatimundi (a member of the racoon family) at her Centre.

At the time, in a statement issued by the RSPCA, the charity said it identified several welfare issues at the animal rescue run by Haydon-Williams:

"On several visits to the sites, the charity's officers found horses in poor conditions, one who was suffering with multiple tumours, and lame goats. There were also overweight pigs with hoof problems and the arthritic coatimundi.

"Haydon-Williams was told that veterinary advice was that the horse covered with skin tumours should have been put to sleep to end their suffering. But the equine, called Gemma, was not euthanised until after the RSPCA and Derbyshire Police secured a warrant to enter the centre in September 2022 when 10 goats, three horses, a pig and a coati were all removed."

At the original hearing, the court heard that Haydon-Williams did “good work for many people for a long time” at the centre, but that Covid had impacted on her finances and lessened her ability to look after the animals.

The two quashed convictions related to failing to provide a suitable environment for a coatimundi and for keeping the same animal listed as an ‘invasive alien species.’

At the appeal the judge stated that “Despite the poor condition of the animals, we have no doubt that the defendant is someone who cares deeply about animals.”