Pair guilty over illegal slaughterhouse and ‘smokies’
PEMBROKE Dock horror farm smallholder, Sean Ronald Burns, of Bramble Hall Farm, and an associate have been found guilty of charges relating to operating an illegal slaughterhouse on the edge of the town.
A jury at Swansea Crown Court returned guilty verdicts on Burns and John Clayton, of Carmarthen, following a week-long trial.
Both parties were charged with operating an illegal (unapproved) slaughterhouse on the site, failing to ensure that food safety and hygiene requirements were met, placing unsafe food on the market (a product known as ‘smokies’), and failing to dispose of animal by-products appropriately (sheep remains).
While Burns had entered not guilty pleas to all charges, Clayton had pleaded not guilty to operating an illegal slaughterhouse and to the associated hygiene-related offences.
He admitted his involvement in producing and placing unsafe food (‘smokies’) on the market and the animal by-product offences.
On Monday, February 10, both Burns and Clayton were convicted on all counts.
Sentencing is to take place on February 13.
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