Matthew and Courtney Shuker were sentenced at Telford Magistrates Court after admitting more than 30 animal welfare charges in the Jennifer Bennett Uttoxeter cattle case. The court imposed suspended prison sentences, long animal-keeping bans, and £15,000 costs orders for each defendant.
Judge Graham Wilkinson also gave Courtney Shuker 90 days to find new owners for her 33 horses. He said the horses were well cared for, even as the wider case centred on cattle and dogs at Westwood Hall Farm in Leek.
Westwood Hall Farm in Leek
The charges covered incidents between 2022 and 2023, after officials attended the farm on multiple occasions across a 13-month period. Jane Sarginson prosecuted the case. The court heard that several calves were severely underweight because of inadequate feeding, some animals had not received proper veterinary treatment, dead calves were left exposed, animals lacked enough dry bedding, and faeces were found in feeding troughs.
Officials also recorded a 25 per cent death rate among the farm’s cattle, compared with a national average of nine per cent. More than 200 calves were taken from the farm in March 2023 after the pair failed to follow an improvement notice, and the Shukers later replenished the farm with additional calves.
Ruby and the dogs
The RSPCA began a separate inquiry after German Shepherd Ruby was found dead in March 2023. A post-mortem examination found that Ruby had been eating wood shavings and plastic, and the court was told that came from extreme hunger. Ruby’s body had been left in her bed for five days.
Four additional dogs at the farm were surrendered to the RSPCA and later rehomed. The Shukers no longer maintain commercial livestock at the farm.
Judge Graham Wilkinson
Judge Graham Wilkinson said, “These offences strike at the heart of an animal-loving nation. The worrying and distasteful feature of this case, is that you did care for your horses, but you did not care for your dogs, and you did not care for your cattle.” He also said the offences struck at the heart of an animal-loving nation and that Courtney Shuker’s horse disqualification would not stop her riding horses in future.
Stuart Jessop said the pair were “out of their depth” and that they were “grossly incompetent,” but he said their conduct did not amount to intentional animal cruelty. He also said Mrs Shuker had been hospitalised and was really ill during the period of the offences. The court’s next practical deadline falls on Courtney Shuker, who has 90 days to arrange new owners for her horses while the bans on keeping animals remain in place.
