Dealers found guilty for drugging ex-racehorses and selling them to parents as docile and child-friendly in ‘life-threatening’ con

TWO equestrian centre owners and a crooked vet have been found guilty of drugging sick and dangerous horses to sell on.

South East Horses owners Charlotte Johnson and Aniela Jurecka, both 28, used vet David Smith, 66, to carry out deliberately inadequate examinations.

The horses were then drugged to appear docile in order to trick inexperienced riders into buying.

The court heard 350 unsuitable horses could have been sold by the trio.

One victim ran up vet’s bills of £10,000, as well as the £4,500 cost of the horse, which could not be ridden.

Maidstone Crown Court heard how another victim suffered life-threatening injuries after being thrown from a horse, while others were left with broken ribs and blows requiring lengthy stays in hospital.

Judge Martin Joy said: "It was the use of drugs on wholly unsuitable horses that caused an apparently docile animal to be dangerous and cause fear, falls and injuries, and potential injuries to children and adults.

"They were presented as docile horses suitable for beginners and children.

"In reality, they were entirely different animals from that and also from what they had been made to appear when being shown and demonstrated to customers, and from how each was described and advertised.

"You knew the truth about each animal and you defrauded buyers and risked the lives and safety of riders and also of their children and, of course, that of the horses themselves."

Johnson, of Maidstone, Jurecka, of Tonbridge, and Smith, of Deal, all denied conspiracy to commit fraud at the centre in Marden, Kent, between June 2008 and December 2013.

Judge Joy granted all three conditional bail until sentencing next month but said they would all be going to prison.

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