A FORMER National Farmers’ Union official has been fined for causing unnecessary suffering to 21,000 chickens reared at his Dorset farm.

John Riddell, director of R & J Farms Limited, pleaded guilty to 12 Animal Welfare offences after many of his birds from Sherborne were found with skin burns on their feet.

Some had deep lesions on their breast and legs as a result of the poor conditions – including being made to stand in wet and acidic dirty bedding.

Riddell, 56, and his company also pleaded guilty to two offences of transporting the chickens when they were not fit to travel.

The whistle was blown on the animals’ suffering by an official vet following two deliveries from Dyers Farm, in Holnest, to a processing plant in Warwickshire in September last year.

Riddell, of Merriot in Somerset, and the company also both pleaded guilty to misleading advertising in delivery forms falsely listing R & J Farms Ltd as belonging to an assured chicken production scheme.

In fact, it had never had an assessment visit and was removed from the scheme in March 2009.

Weymouth Magistrates’ Court slapped prosecution costs of £1,960 and a three year conditional discharge on Riddell and his company.

In mitigation, they heard how the business had faced a ‘series of challenges’ from disease and poor conditions after taking over the farm, which held up to 75,000 chickens.

Ivan Hancock, Dorset County council’s Trading Standards manager, described the situation as “a pretty awful state of affairs”.

“Some people may look at the sentence and be surprised that perhaps more was not done,” he said.

“But I would stress that Riddell has done a lot since these problems. The sheds are now kept clear and a new cleaning regime is in place.”