A MAN has been banned from keeping animals for life and handed a suspended prison sentence after a Cornwall Council-led investigation.

Rodney Pascoe, 65, of Under Lane, Delabole, appeared at Bodmin Magistrates Court to answer ten charges of causing unnecessary suffering and failing in his duty of care to his animals.

Pascoe pleaded guilty to all charges, which were bought before the court following a joint investigation between by the Animal and Plant Health Agency, Rural Payments Agency and Cornwall Council.

Pascoe was banned for life from keeping or owning farmed animals to include horses and poultry, and was handed a 16-week prison sentence, suspended for 18 months.

He was also told to either sell, or remove from his land, his remaining cattle within 28 days, and ordered to pay costs of £4,952 to Cornwall Council within the same period. He was also handed an additional victim surcharge of £115.