Cow muck flood costs farmer huge fine

John Cockerill allowed manure to build up on his land until heavy rain caused the muck to flow from his smallholding into neighbouring properties and streams.

The dirty water caused a "foul" three-inch flood in the kitchen and living area of neighbour June Crossley's home, causing extensive damage and forcing the pensioner to move out for more than a month

York Crown Court heard Cockerill had only ever wanted to be a farmer, although at the time of the offences he was working for Scarborough Council as a gardener and farming part-time.

Cockerill, 45, of Depot House, Rosedale East, Pickering, admitted causing polluting matter to enter controlled waters and keeping controlled waste on a smallholding between September 6, 2008, and April 14, 2009.

Judge James Spencer QC told him: "You have behaved in the most irresponsible manner. You deliberately and for your own purposes built up your herd to a number you could not manage – neither the animals, but more importantly the waste that they created."

Cockerill was ordered to pay 6,296 compensation to the Environment Agency, and fined 2,000, with 1,704 costs and a 15 victim surcharge.

The judge told him: "If it means you have to sell your stock, that's what you must do."

The court heard that Cockerill did very little about the state of his four-acre farm, despite repeated warnings and advice from the Environment Agency. He was also convicted last year of five offences of failing to take reasonable steps to ensure the needs of an animal.

Louise Azmi, prosecuting for the agency, said Ms Crossley woke around 3am on September 6 2008 to find her home flooded with "foul-smelling" dirty water and saw slurry "gushing" down the hillside from the direction of Cockerill's farm.

Agency officers who visited the smallholding found a shed and concreted area covered in cattle waste and heaps of manure forming into slurry after mixing with rain water. A later visit by officials of the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs resulted in two cows being put down because of poor health.

Around six months after the first visit, the agency conducted a clean-up of the area, costing 6,296.

Ms Azmi said the incident was classed as being a high risk to human health, although there was no evidence that anybody had become ill as a result.

The court heard that a number of complaints had been made about the state of Cockerill's land since 1998.

In mitigation, Ruth Cranidge said Cockerill had sold most of his herd and now had just 15 cows and 10 calves.

She described the lifestyle of the defendant, who still lives with his parents, as "chaotic" and said he struggled to manage the upkeep of the farm and his cows around his full-time job.

She added: "He had far too many. It was chaos on the farm and the situation spiralled out of his control."

Speaking after the sentencing, Environment Agency officers described the situation on the farm as the worst they had seen in 30 years.

An environment officer, Jim Richards, said: "People like Cockerill give good farmers a bad name. I'd never seen anything quite like it in my life. About 240 tonnes of manure was kept on the land, up to 10ft deep in places."

He added that Ms Crossley was "very distressed" about the damage to her home and all the neighbours were happy and relieved action had been taken.