Horse dealers and a vet are jailed for drugging un-trained animals and selling them as ‘safe’ to new riders who they then threw
The dodgy dealers Charlotte Johnson and Aniela Jurecka worked with crooked vet David Smith to con their unsuspecting customers
A PAIR of crooked horse dealers and a vet have been jailed for drugging sick animals so that they could sell them to unsuspecting buyers.
Equestrian centre partners Charlotte Johnson and Aniela Jurecka, and vet David Smith were convicted of fraud after several customers were thrown from their horses.
Judge Martin Joy slammed their "despicable"actions that "risked the lives and safety" of riders and their horses too.
It's after one person spent two months after suffering life-threatening injuries in the fall.
Other riders suffered broken ribs and one was left unconscious in a ditch.
The horses, priced from £1,950 to £5,700, were drugged at South East Horses, based at Great Thorn Farm in Marden, Kent and at hired land in Staplehurst, to cover up lameness and other issues.
Johnson and Jurecka, both 28, used their own vet, 66-year-old Smith, to carry out deliberately "cursory and inadequate" examinations of the horses before they were sold.
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Maidstone Crown Court heard adverts targeted novice riders looking for "safe" horses, but instead buyers were given something dramatically different.
It was estimated that hundreds of horses were sold, bringing in potentially hundreds of thousands of pounds for the pair.
Prosecutor Dominic Connolly said: "Those adverts grossly misdescribed horses being offered for sale.
"Representations are made as to their physical well being, calm and placid demeanour and suitability for first-time riders when they had significant behavioural issues which made them entirely unsuitable.
"On a number of occasions, that resulted in falls and injuries."
One witness told the trial that a horse advertised as being "cool, calm and collected" and for which she paid £4,000 turned out to be "potentially lethal".
Text conversations and a raid at Smith's veterinary surgery revealed details about the supply of drugs, including Modecate - a behaviour modifying sedative that masks behavioural problems in aggressive horses.
Mr Connolly said when the horses were inspected and tried out they were sleepy, docile and placid because of the drugs.
He added: "It was only after the purchase when the effect of the sedatives began to wear off the true nature and temperament of the horses were revealed."
Johnson, of Maidstone, Jurecka of Tonbridge, and Smith of Finglesham, all in Kent, all denied conspiracy to commit fraud between June 2008 and December 2013 at the start of the three-month trial, but were convicted.
Judge Martin Joy said the trio had been convicted on clear and overwhelming evidence of a conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation over about five-and-a-half years.
The number of customers defrauded was almost impossible to quantify, according to Judge Joy.
You risked the lives and safety of riders and that of horses themselves.
Martin Joy
He said: "Each of you was involved in a long and dishonest course of conduct by telling lies about the history, temperament and health of horses.
"The impact of the drugs was planned to cause wholly unsuitable horses, often ex-racehorses, to be apparently docile."
"It was dishonest and it caused not only financial loss but suffering to horses.
"You risked the lives and safety of riders and that of horses themselves."
The judge added that a figure of £85,000 was put forward by the prosecution as the loss, but said the true financial losses were higher.
He also said that Smith played a key role, and had previously been struck off by The Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons for serious misconduct and had been before other courts.
The defendants have shown no remorse for their actions.
Neil Parker
All three were sentenced to two-and-a-half years' imprisonment each.
Speaking after the sentencing Detective Chief Inspector Neil Parker said: "This has been a complex and protracted investigation.
"I want to acknowledge the victims in the case. They have had to endure a significant wait to see justice handed down as it has been today.
"I am very grateful to all of them for their patience.
"We should remember that not only were they subjected to financial loss by the defendants, they were also exposed to real risk of injury.
"The defendants have shown no remorse for their actions.
"The comments by the judge and the sentences handed down to these defendants can only serve as a very clear message that this type of systematic fraud will not be tolerated."
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